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Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1840,  by 

C.  P.  STOLLMEYER, 
In  the  Diatrict  Court  for  the  Eastern  Diatrict  of  Pennsylvania 


Collect 
Library 

f/X 


F 


PREFACE. 


The  object  which  I  have  in  view  in  publishing  this  volume,  is 
to  lay  before  the  American  public,  the  profound  and  original  con. 
ceptions  of  CHARLES-  FOURIERron  the  subject  of  a  re-organi- 
zation of  Society. 

In  the  whole  range  of  human  science,  there  is  no  problem,  the 
solution  of  which  offers  so  many  difficulties,  as  that  of  a  SOCIAL 
REFORM,  or  an  organic  change  in  the  Social  System;  and  none 
which  will  meet  with  so  little  impartial  examination  and  criticism. 
The  simple  proposal  of  a  Social  change  is  sure  to  raise,  in  favor  of 
existing  institutions,  a  mass  of  prejudices  and  prepossessions,  which 
are  the  accompanyment  of  every  epoch  :.  if  those  prejudices  prove 
nothing  in  themselves,,  they  prove  at  least,  the  great  difficulty  of 
inducing  men  to  think  upon  matters  out  of  their  accustomed  spheres 
of  reflection,  which  is  a  most  serious  obstacle  to  the  successful 
promulgation  of  new  views  and  principles. 

The  age  is  not  yet  prepared  for  the  discussion  of  Social  ques- 
tions :  this  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  our  most  enlighted  men  are 
seeking,  blindly,  in  paltry  political  measures  and  administrative 
reforms,  for  the  means  of  doing  away  with  the  load  of  social  evil 
and  misery,  which  oppress  mankind.  As  the  question  of  a  changa 
in  the  Social  System  does  not  occupy  public  attention,  as  in  the 
field  of  Social  Science  nothing  has  been  done — as  no  date  exiirta 

A2 


IV  METAfcE. 

whereby  to  judge  this  important  question,  we  have  a  right  to  de- 
mand for  the  principles  which  we  shall  s«t  forth,  an  impartial 
examination,  and  to  protest  against  a  hasty  and  presumptuous 
criticism. 

CHARLES  FOURIER,  the  genius  to  whom  is  due  the  discovery  of 
Association,  based  on  Series  of  Groups  and  Attractive  Industry, 
was  born  at  Besancon,  in  France,  on  the  7th  of  April,  1772,  and 
died  at  Paris,  on  the  10th  of  October,  1837,  aged  sixty-five  years 
and  six  months. 

FOURIER  is  to  be  ranked  among  those  bold  and  original  geniuses, 
like  Columbus,  Copernicus  and  Newton,  who  open  new  paths  to 
human  science,  and  who  appear  upon  the  stage  of  the  world  to 
give  it  a  new  impetus,  and  exercise  an  influence,  which  is  to  be 
prolonged  for  ages. 

Experience,  however,  has  proved  a  hundred  times  over,  th  a 
M  That  man  of  genius,  who  is  in  advance  of  his  age,  in  whateve 
branch  it  may  be,  is  never  comprehended."  We  see  this  illus- 
trated in  the  case  of  Columbus,  Gallileo,  Harvy,  and  in  fact,  al 
men  who  have  made  great  inventions, — and  in  our  day,  in  tl-.al 
of  Fulton,  whose  discovery,  ridiculed  at  first,  has  proved  of  such 
high  importance. 

The  profound  originality  of  FOURIER'S  conceptions,  the  new- 
ness,— or  rather  the  neglect  on  the  part  of  the  Scientific  world,  of 
the  subjects  treated,  were  great  obstacles  to  the  comprehension  of 
his  theory ;  so  much  so  that,  although  his  first  work  was  published 
in  1808,  it  is  only  at  present  that  his  views  are  beginning  to  at- 
tract the  attention  and  receive  the  admiration  of  minds,  which  are 
not  satisfied  with  the  superficial  science  and  politics  of  tlu;  day. 

FOURIER  devoted  nearly  forty  yeaxs  of  untiring  and  patient 
labor  to  the  discovery  of  the  laws  of  a  true  system  of  society,  which 
would  put  an  end  to  the  miseries  of  mankind ;  but  he  was  no 
comprehended ;  and  during  his  life  he  received  neither  reward  nor 


PREFACE.  V 

approbation  for  his  efforts,  save  the  profound  admiration  of  a 
limited  number  of  persons,  who  had  become  initiated  into  his 
theory,  and  who  knew  how  to  appreciate  the  genius,  whose  concep- 
tions are  destined  to  exercise  an  important  influence  on  the  social 
destiny  of  the  human  race.  It  is,  therefore,  left  for  future  gene- 
rations to  render  due  homage  to  his  labors;  they  will  do  it;  and 
if  the  applause  of  succeeding  ages  can  reward  the  spirit  that  has 
departed,  then  will  he  receive  a  full  reward. 

FOURIER  published  his  first  work  in  1898,  which  ho  entitled 
"  Theory  of  the  Four  Movements."  See  page  161  for  an  expli- 
cation of  this  title.  In  1822,  he  published  two  large  volumes,  in 
which  under  the  modest  title  of  "  Treatise  on  Domestic  and  Agri- 
cultural Association,"  be  treats  and  solves  the  most  profound  prob- 
lems of  science.  In  1829,  he  published  his  third  work  in  one 
volume,  entitled  u  The  New  Industrial  World,"  which  he  intended 
as  a  concise  practical  guide  in  the  Art  of  Associating.  In  1835 
and  6,  he  published  two  additional  volumes,  entitled  "  False  Indus- 
try, and  its  Antidote  Natural,  Attractive  Industry.1'  In  these  two 
volumes  he  makes  a  strong  appeal  for  a  practical  trial  of  Associa- 
tion and  of  his  System,  and  proves  in  the  clearest  manner,  and  by 
the  most  positive  calculations,  that  Association  would  increase  im- 
mensely, national  wealth  and  prosperity,  and  aid  efficaciously  the 
cause  of  mankind,  for  which  our  political  reforms  and  controver- 
sies can  do  nothing.  But  he  was  not  understood  by  men  whose 
prejudices,  personal  interests  and  ambition  were  interwoven  with 
the  false  society  which  he  denounced ;  and  he  died,  less  fortunate 
than  Columbus,  who,  in  announcing  a  new  Continental  World,  had 
fewer  difficulties  to  overcome  in  the  darker  age  in  which  he  lived, 
than  had  FOURIER,  in  the  present  one,  in  announcing  a  new  Social 
World. 

New  York,  1840. 


VI 


INTRODUCTION. 

')•••'•       9i'     I  'i     '•«     ••"'•*'.         •      nt    '\t     :          •  -.  .-•.,.      ,  .' 

We  assert,  and  will  prove,  that  LABOR,  which  is 

now  MONOTONOUS,  REPUGNANT  and  DEGRADING,  Can 

be  ENNOBLED,  ELEVATED  and  made  HONORABLE; — or 
in  other  words,  that  INDUSTRY  CAN  BE  REN- 
DERED ATTRACTIVE  ! 

Let  this  great  and  practical  reform  be  once  effected, 
and  three-fourths  of  the  evils,  which  oppress  man- 
kind, will  be  done  away  with  as  if  by  a  magic  in- 
fluence. 

What  does  man  require  to  be  happy?    RICHES,  and 

ENNOBLING  AND  PLEASING  ACTIVITY. 

How  is  he  to  obtain  riches,  if  Labor,  which  is  the 
source  of  all  WEALTH,  be  repugnant  and  degrading, 
and  if  its  exercise  has  to  be  coerced  by  POVERTY  AND 

WANT,    OR    BY    THE    FEAR    OF    THE  WHIP?       With    the 

present  miserable  organization  of  Labor,  it  is  useless 
to  think  of  general  riches,  that  is,  of  an  abundance  for 


INTRODUCTION.  VII 

all  :  poverty  will  continue  to  be  the  lot  of  the  great 
majority,  so  long  as  the  present  defective  system  of 
Industry  is  continued. 

How  can  a  pleasing  and  acceptable  sphere  of  action 
be  guaranteed  to  all  capacities  and  talents,  to  all  ages 
and  sexes,  if  Industry,  which  of  itself  embraces  so 
large  a  portion  of  that  sphere,  be  shut  out  from  hu- 
man activity  by  the  repugnance  and  disgust  connected 
with  it? 

ATTRACTIVE  INDUSTRY  is  the  first  remedy  to  be 
applied  to  Social  evils;  it  would  replace  the  present 
poverty  and  anxiety  by  riches  and  contentment,  and 
relieve  the  mass  from  those  harrassing  cares  and 
physical  wants,  which  deaden  the  intellect,  and 
smother  or  pervert  all  the  higher  sympathies  and 
feelings. 

It  would  open  also  a  new  and  vast  career  to  Jhe 
genius  and  ambition  of  man,  and  employ  usefully  the 
passions,  whose  restless  activity  is  now  perverted  in 
our  societies,  with  their  monotonous  idleness,  and 
their  conflicts  and  discords. 

We  assert  therefore,  that  the  greatest  and  most  im-  (j 
portant  problem  which  can  be  proposed  to  Society,  if  > 
Society  be  willing  to  occupy  itself  with  any  questions 
of  a  general  nature,  is  a  RE-ORGANIZATION  OF  IN- 
DUSTRY, or  a   REFORM  IN  OUR    WHOLE    SYSTEM  OF 


VIII  INTRODTCTIOlf. 

LABOR.  It  is  here, — in  the  foundation  of  the  Social 
edifice,  that  a  reform  should  commence, — and  not  in 
the  superstructure,  in  the  administration,  or  the  po- 

T-i-         1 

litical  power. 

Politicians  and  legislators  are  engaged  in  superficial 
controversies  and  quarrels,  which  lead  to  no  practical 
results.*  Let  us  leave  to  them  the  barren  field  of 


*  It  strikes  UB,  that  daring  the  last  sixty-four  years  of  political 
discussions  and  controversies  in  this  country,  two  important  practi- 
cal extensions  only  have  been  given  to  the  great  principle  of  hu- 
man rights ;  to  wit,  UNIVERSAL  SUFFRAGE  AND  ABOLISHMENT  OF  IM- 
PRISONMENT FOR  DEBT.  The  progress  of  the  United  States  has  been 
INDUSTRIAL, — not  SOCIAL.  We  do  not  believe  that  during  the  last 
half  century,  any  important  practical  extensions,  except  the  two 
above  mentioned,  have  been  given  to  the  cause  of  human  Liberty 
and  Social  Equality. 

It  is  evident  that  our  politicians  have  no  new  measures  or  prin- 
ciples to  propose ;  they  have  no  confidence  in  themselves.  They 
are  strenuously  planning  or  advocating  reforms,  but  they  pretend 
thttt  Society  must  go  back  to  past  times  or  principles  to  effect 
them;  they  wish  the  doctrines  of  republicanism  to  be  carried  out 
in  all  their  purity,  but  they  seek  for  the  means  in  the  policy  of  a 
Washington  or  a  Jefferson,  and  not  in  new  principles  or  organic 
changes.  Even  Mr.  Calhoun,  whose  ideas  of  political  equilibrium 
and  a  recant sruction  of  political  representation,  are  profound  and 
original,  characterizes  the  change  which  he  wishes  to  realize,  as  a 
RESTORATION  '.  It  is  clear  that  our  politicians  are  all  looking  back- 
wards. 


INTRODUCTION.  IX 

party  strife,  in  which  they  are  seeking  an  ephemeral 
reputation,  and  turn  our  attention  to  the  future. 

Have  not  the  human  race  some  higher  Social  Des- 
tiny to  attain  than  the  state  in  which  they  now  vege- 
tate? Are  not  some  great  ameliorations  possible?  If 
so,  and  if  politics  could  effect  anything,  should  not 
the  free  and  untrammeled  discussions  of  twenty-six 
State  Legislatures,  of  a  National  Congress,  and  of 
fifteen  hundred  newspapers  lead  to  some  practical 
results?  Still,  in  the  vast  political  labor  which  is 
going  on  around  us,  not  one  single  idea  of  a  HIGHER 

SOCIAL    DESTINY,  OF    A   FUTURE    SOCIAL    PERFECTION- 

MENT,  is  put  forth.  The  present  is  doubt,  and  the 
future  is  a  blank! 

While  this  stagnation  in  the  Social  Movement  and 
this  dearth  of  investigation  reign,  population  is  rapidly 
increasing,  and  the  commercial,  banking  and  financial 
interests  is  receiving  an  immense  extension  and  an 
overpowering  influence.  The  means  of  a  financial 
and  industrial  dependency  and  bondage  are  preparing, 
and  that  in  the  face  of  a  prostitution  and  waste  of  in- 
telligence and  political  energy,  which,  if  rightly 
directed,  might  accomplish  a  great  Social  reform,  and 
secure  to  man  the  attainment  of  his  Destiny. 

An  INDUSTRIAL  and  SOCIAL  REFORM  is  the  cause 
we  advocate;  if  we  can  point  out  the  means  of  replac- 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

ing  the  present  monotonous  and  repugnant  system 
labor  by  Attractive  Industry;  if  we  can  awaken  atten- 
tion to  the  importance  of  the  subject,  the  commence- 
ment of  a  Social  movement  will  be  effected,  which  will 
lead  to  results  of  gigantic  importance. 

Although  a  variety  of  subjects  will  be  treated  in 
this  work,  still  a  REFORM  IN  LABOK  OR  A  REORGANI- 
ZATION OF  INDUSTRY, — the  practical  character  of 
which  cannot  be  denied — will  be  the  focus  to  which 
all  our  reasonings  will  tend;— it  will  be  the  Alpha  and 
Omega  of  all  our  hopes  and  recommendations. 

•  i'A'l     •JAIOO?:    MJI '/7"T!*f    />     '« ''V  ,YXJ')43'i    JY  i  i ('•'•'• 


*/:  «  o^.  »  fi  .1  A.  i  'W&  I  <  n  s-   .  \i.  \  .K  •?•*"  ]  /  >  v  } 


XI 


EXPLANATION  OF  TERMS. 


In  treating  a  new  subject  like  that  of  Association  and  Passional 
Harmony,  we  find  it  necessary  to  employ  some  new  terms  to  ex- 
plain concisely  -our  meaning.  In  so  doing  we  will,  however,  -take 
the  precaution  of  giving  a  brief  definition  of  the  leading  ones,  to 
which  the  reader  can  refer,  as  he  meets  with  them  in  the  'Course 
of  the  work. 

CIVILIZATION. — The  reeder  is  particularly  'requested  to  'observe 
that  by  civilization  we  understand  the  social  system  in  which  we 
live,  as  it  now  is,  with  all  its  defects  and  the  little  good  it  may 
possess.  We  do  not  make  use  -of  it  in  contradistinction  to  barba- 
rianism,  or  to  express  a  polished  or  enlightened  state  of  society ; 
but  we  employ  it  to  designate  in  all  cases,  the  present  social  system 
with  its  courts  of  justice,  its  jails  and  penitentiaries,  its  particular 
mode  of  carrying  on  commerce,  banking  and  industry,  its  isolated 
households,  its  conflicts  of  the  individual  with  the  collective  in- 
terest, and  its  want  of  association  and  combination.  In  condemn- 
ing civilization,  we  do  not,  therefore,  condemn  that  state  of  things 
or  that  spirit,  which  favors  a  cultivation  of  the  arU  and  sciences ; 
we  condemn  merely  the  present  social  organization,  which,  as  we 
will  endeavor  to  prove,  is  monstrously  defective.  The  reader  will 
therefore,  please  bear  in  mind,  that  we  use  civilization  as  a  definite 
name  for  the  Social  System  of  this  country  and  Europe. 

CrviLizn. — A  civilizee  is  a  member  of  the  system  of  society 
called  civilization,  as  a  barbarian  and  savage  are  members  of  the 
barbarian  and  savage  societies.  The  term  civilized  man  ii  too 


XII  EXPLANATION   OF    TERMS. 

general  and  abstract,  we  have  therefore,  made  a  new  word.  Its 
use  obviates  circum locution  in  a  great  many  cases,  as  in  the  fol- 
lowing :  The  barbarian  likes  his  seralios :  the  civilizee  admires 
the  institution  of  marriage.  The  savage  likes  a  roving,  wander- 
ing life ;  the  civilizee  likes  his  home  and  fireside. 

INCOHERENT  and  INCOHERENCE  ;  we  apply  these  words  to  In- 
dustry for  want  of  a  better  expression.  By  Incoherent  Industry, 
we  understand  a  system  of  agriculture,  manufactures,  etc.,  which 
is  carried  on  without  order,  combination  or  association,  and  in 
which  all  interests  are  in  conflict, — a  system  which  is  pursued  by 
individuals  operating  separately  and  isolatedly,  and  between  whom 
no  understanding  or  arrangement  exists  for  a  judicious  application 
of  labor,  capital,  soils,  etc.  To  express  the  same  idea,  we  some- 
times use  piece-meal  Industry,  and  fragmental,  individual  system 
of  labor. 

PIVOT  signifies  the  principal  part  or  member  of  a  system, 
mechanism  or  species.  The  sun,  for  example,  is  the  pivot  of  the 
solar  system.  White  is  a  pivotal  color;  mercury  a  pivotal  metal. 
The  lion  is  the  pivot  of  the  feline  species.  The  thumb  is  the  pivot 
of  the  hand  with  the  four  fingers.  Bread  is  a  pivotal  food,  be- 
cause it  amalgamates  with  every  other  kind.  The  general  and 
his  staff  are  the  pivot  of  an  army.  With  these  examples,  the 
reader  will  see  what  we  understand  by  pivot  and  privotal.  We 
distinguish  it  by  the  sign,  ^  . 

PASSIONAL. — We  have  material,  which  is  the  adjective  of  matter ; 
but  we  have  no  adjective  of  Passion.  It  is  clear  that  that  word 
is  wanted.  If  a  man  be  impelled  by  love  or  ambition — which  arc 
passions — is  it  not  a  passional  impulse?  and  is  not  a  word  to  ex- 
press such  a  shade  of  meaning  necessary?  We  say  material 
harmony,  instead  of  harmony  of  matter,  why  not  say  passional 
harmony,  for  harmony  of  the  passions  ?  Passional  is  to  passion 
what  intellectual  is  to  intellect,  or  material  to  matter. 


EXPLANATION    OF   TERMS.  XIII 

PHALANX. — The  body  of  persons,  or  the  inhabitants  composing 
an  Association. 

To  DEVELOPS. — We  give  to  this  word  rather  an  extended  significa- 
tion. We  understand  by  it — to  give  vent,  or  outlet  to,  to  call  forth, 
to  afford  the  means  of  action,  to  expand,  to  expand  into  reality,  to 
give  course  to. 

DEVELOPMENT  ;  expansien,  expansion  into  reality,  the  action  of 
giving  course,  outlet  or  vent  to. 

INDUSTRY  taken  in  its  broadest  sense,  signifies  the  whole  pro- 
ductive activity  of  man,  (see  page  184.)  We  shall,  however, 
commonly  use  it  as  a  general  terra  for  agriculture,  manufactures 
and  mechanics.  We  never  make  use  of  it  in  the  sense  of  assiduity 
or  diligence. 

INDUSTRIAL  is  a  convenient  general  term  for  agricultural,  manu- 
facturing and  mechanical. — Industrial  pursuits  or  occupations, 
signify  agricultural,  manufacturing  and  mechanical  pursuits. 

SERIAL;  adjective  of  Series.  It  is  necessary  to  have  the  ad- 
jective of  this  substantive. 

SERIE. — As  it  is  necessary  to  distinguish  between  the  singular 
and  plural  of  this  word,  we  will,  to  mark  more  clearly  the  number, 
use  Serie  for  the  singular  and  Series  for  the  plural. 

SUBVERSIVE  is  more  comprehensive  in  its  meaning  than  false ; 
it  signifies  an  overthrow  or  derangement  of  harmonic  principles : 
it  implies  consequently  a  state  of  falseness  and  error,  but  supposes 
that  a  state  of  harmony  may  exist,  or  that  the  object  to  which  it  is 
applied  is  capable  of  harmony.  In  using  the  expression  Social 
Subversion,  we  mean  that  the  elements,  whicli  compose  social 
harmony  are  deranged  and  in  discord,  and  that  a  state  of  social 
falseness  exists.  As  falseness  does  not  imply  the  existence  of  an 
opposite  condition, — a  condition  of  harmony  ;  we  use  subversive 
and  subversion  to  convey  that  idea.  Thus  while  it  expresses  false- 
ness, it  connects  with  it  the  idea  of  a  harmonic  existence  or  a 
harmonic  state  of  things. 


XIV  EXPLANATITN    OF    TERMS. 

Those  expressions  which  appear  but  once  or  twice  in  the  work, 
we  will  not  here  explain.  Instead  of  scissionaries  in  the  table, 
page  66 ;  Outcasts,  would  have  been  better,  or  at  least  more  simple. 
We  would  have  prefered  some  other  word  for  Unityigm,  page  160, 
but  could  find  none,  which  expressed  the  idea.  We  trust  that  the 
use  of  these  new  terms,  will  not  be  objected  to. 

Part  of  the  chapters  in  this  work  are  translated  direct  from 
Fourier,  part  are  original.  Wishing  to  give  in  a  small  space,  as 
complete  an  idea  as  possible  of  his  system,  I  have  combined  transla- 
tions and  original  matter,'  as  I  judged  best  for  that  purpose. 

The  following  chapters  are  from  Fourier :  first,  third,  fourth,  fifth, 
sixth,  eleventh,  part  of  twelfth,  thirteenth,  fourteenth,  twenty-sixth, 
twenty-eighth,  twenty-ninth,  thirtieth,  thirty-first,  thirty-second, 
thirty-third,  thirty-fourth,  thirty-fifth. 

To  those  who  have  not  time  to  read  the  entire  work,  we  particu- 
larly recommend,  the  EDUCATION  OK  CHILDREN,  and  Chapters  Ninth, 
Fourteenth,  Seventeenth,  and  Thirty-fifth. 

The  author  was  unable  in  many  cases,  as  he  resided  in  a  dif- 
ferent city  from  that  in  which  the  work  was  printed,  to  correct  the 
proof-sheets :  some  errors  of  typography  and  language  (the  latter 
of  which  it  is  difficult  to  avoid  when  a  revision  is  not  made  in 
print)  consequently  exist.  The  work  was  written,  moreover,  amidst 
the  cares  and  occupations  of  business,  and  the  press  was  in  almost 
every  instance  waiting  for  the  manuscript. 


*v...-,r 

.'•   *•.» 


INDEX. 

Page 

Preface  in 
Introduction,          -                             >  -    it 
Explanation  of  Terms,  vi 
Object  of  the  Work.  -        1 ' 
Prejudices  of  the  World  against  Association,         -  ID 
Preliminary,           -  -26 
Economies  of  Association,          -  33 
Economies  in  granaries,  cellers,  fuel,  transportation,  Ice.  Ice.      •  -39 
..  Effective,  relative,  positive  and  negative  ecomoraies,  48 
-»  Compound  economies  in  Association— Non-producing  classes  of  Civili- 
zation,         •  -58 

•  Incoherence  and  waste  of  the  present  order,           -  75 
Defects  of  Industry  exercised  by  isolated  households,     •  -84 
Servitudes  of  labor  and  abolitionism,-      -  93 
Groups  and  Series,                                             •  •    115 
The  Passions,  .                           157 

•Groups  and  Series,  2d  pan,  -    181 
"Of  the  option  of  the  Divinity  between  isolated  and  combined  industry,    190 

<  The  Passions,  3d  part,   •  306 

•  Exception,  Transition,  Duality  of  movement,  -    235 
Destiny  of  man,             .  '^  «*'         239 

The  savage,  patriarchal  and  barbarian  Societies,     •  "•                         -    369 

Civilization,  •           277 

Second  Pbasis  of  civilization,  •    895 

Decline  of  civilization,  303 

Fourth  Phasis  of  civilization,                                          .  •    315 

Transition  to  the  practical  organization  of  association,  340 

Different  methods  of  making  a  practical  trial  of  associatien,  -    345 

Betails  to  be  observed  in  founding  a  Phalanx,  350 

Architecture.    Explanation  of  th«  plates.  -    362 

Edifice  of  the  Phalanx,  366 

'  Domain  of  the  Phalanx,       •  •    376 

*  Education  of  the  early  infancy,  extending  to  the  age  of  two  yean,  394 

*  Education  of  the  first  order  of  children,  •    404 
'-»  Education  of  the  initiated  or  second  order  of  children,  •                         419 

,  Branches  of  agriculture  adapted  to  childhood. 

•  Corporation  of  the  little  Horde*  443 

•  Passional  Attraction.                                     »•  •    *5* 


ERRATA. 


Page    6  line  4, productive,  read  unproductive. 

55  "      1— — weaTel,  read  weevil. 

69  "  19 our,  read  an. 

72  "      4        ..or  chains  of  hills,  read  on  chains  of  hills. 

132  "  11 exaltations,  read  exaltation. 

«  u  12 scramped,  read  cramped. 

137  "      8 outship,  read  outstrip. 

138  u  10 — —erase,  the  pronoun,  it. 

139  "  23 series,  read  serial. 

162  "      1 industrial  read  instinctual. 

168  »  12 for  cultivating  read  buiding. 

218  «  10 for       151,        read     161. 

387  «  27 for     souls,        read    soils. 


OBJECT  OP  THE  WORK. 


MAI?  becomes  so  accustomed  to  the  society,  in 
which  he  has  passed  his  life,  that  its  institutions, 
laws,  and  customs  grow  upon  him  until  they  become 
a  second  nature.  His  feelings,  views  and  prejudices 
are  so  interwoven  with  its  whole  mechanism,  that 
he  looks  upon  it  as  natural,  unchangeable  and  per- 
fect. So  great  is  this  illusion,  that  the  evils  he 
labours  under,  are  attributed  to  every  cause  but  the 
true  one  —  the  defective  organisation  of  society;  and 


\vhiln  thn  gnvprnmont.  the  administration,  qnd  even  N 
religion    are    doubted    and    criticised,    the    social 
system,  as  if  it  were  some  thing  superior  to  human 
imperfection  and  error,  alone  commands  the  respect  : 
and  reverence  of  all. 

1 


5J  SOCIAL    DESTINY    OF    MAN. 

Our  readers  cannot  fail  to  remember  that,  in 
the  simplicity  of  early  childhood,  the  horizon 
which  bounded  their  vision,  appeared  to  them  the 
end  of  the  world;  and  that,  in  this  childish  belief 
they  did  not  imagine  that  vast  regions  and  populous 
cities  lay  extended  beyond.  An  analogy  to  this  may 
be  found  in  the  social  world;  the  prejudices  that  men 
imbibe  in  the  society  which  surrounds  them,  bound 
their  social  horizon,  and  they  do  not  conceive  the 
possibility  of  a  great  change  in  the  present  order  of 
things,  or  the  existence  of  other  societies,  based  on 
principles  entirely  different  from  those  which  they 
now  look  upon  as  eternal. 

This  veil  of  prejudice  must  be  torn  away.  We 
assert  that  the  evil,  misery  and  injustice,  now  pre- 
dominant on  the  earth,  have  not  their  foundation  in 
political  or  administrative  errors,  in  the  defects  of 
this  or  that  institution,  in  the  imperfection  of  human 
nature,  or  in  the  depravity  of  the  passions ;  but  in  the 

FALSE   ORGANISATION    Or    SOCIETY    ALONE.        We    aSSCl't 

that  the  present  social  mechanism  is  not  ADAPTED  to 
the  nature  of  man  and  to  his  passions;  that  its  laws 
are  in  flagrant  opposition  to  those  which  regulate  or 
govern  their  action ;  that  it  perverts,  misdirects  and 
develops  them  subversively,  and  that  the  selfishness, 
oppression,  fraud,  injustice,  and  crime,  which  mark 
the  course  of  his  societies,  are  attributable  to  that 
artificial  or  social  misdirection  and  perversion,  and 
not  to  any  inborn,  inherent  depravity  in  the  human 
being  himself. 


OBJECT    OF    THE    WORK.  3 

The  passions  tend  from  their  nature,  (and  how 
could  they  do  otherwise  since  they  are  the  work  of 
the  Divinity?)  to  social  unity,  concord,  and  the 
development  of  all  the  sympathies.  But  the  great 
mistake  which  has  been  made,  has  been  to  confound 
the  false  developments,  which  the  passions  receive 
from  our  subversive  societies,  with  their  real  essence 
and  their  true  nature :  the  effect  has  been  mistaken 
for  the  cause.  Science  has  fallen  into  this  gross 
error;  it  has  sought  for  the  cause  of  social  evil  and 
misery  in  the  perverted  action  of  the  passions,  with- 
out going  any  further,  whereas,  had  it  taken  one  step 
more,  it  would  have  found  in  the  vicious  organisation 
of  the  social  mechanism,  the  CAUSE  of  their  perverted 
action,  consequently  the  real  SOURCE  of  misery  and 
evil.  This  it  has  not  done;  it  has  left  the  social 
mechanism  as  it  was,  and  applied  correctives  to  the 
passions; — these  having  failed  entirely,  it  has  de- 
clared their  depravity  and  the  permanency  of  evil, 
and  advised  an  apathetic  resignation  to  its  sway. 
This  advice  has  been  but  too  faithfully  followed,  and 
the  belief  in  the  fatality. of  evil  has  sunk  so  deeply 
into  the  minds  of  men,  that  it  has  eradicated  all  hope 
of  the  possibility  of  general  and  collective  happiness 
on  this  earth.  As  a  proof  of  the  fact,  ask  the  learned 
or  the  ignorant,  ask  the  world  in  general,  and  they 
will  answer  alike  that  happiness  is  not  the  lot  of  man, 
that  it  is  a  boon  which  has  not  been  granted  him  by 
the  Divinity. 

But,  between  this  theory  and  practice,  there  exists 

1* 


4  SOCIAL    DESTINY    OF    MAN. 

a  strange  contradiction  which  should  have  led  to  a 
further  examination  of  the  subject.  While  the  supre- 
macy of  evil  is  acknowledged  on  all  sides,  every 
individual  in  his  sphere  is  in  ardent  pursuit  of  happi- 
ness, which  he  feels  to  be  the  law  of  his  nature,  and 
which  he  believes,  if  his  plans  succeed,  possible  and 
attainable. 

The  secret  instinct  of  the  individual  is  truer  than 
the  reasonings  of  science.  The  destiny  of  man  is  to 
be  happy  on  this  earth^  but  not  in  our  subversive 
societies,  characterised  by  indigence'  and  discord. 
The  realisation  of  happiness  requires  a  different 
social  order;  and  to  induce  its  research,  to  awaken 
a  desire  for  that  realisation,  we  wish  to  excite, 
not  a  war  of  the  poor  against  the  rich — as  a  cer- 
tain political  party  is  accused  of  doing — but  the 
just  indignation,  of  all  those  who  suffer,  not.  from 
causes  inherent  in  the  nature  of  things^ utjfrom  .the 
circumstances  of  society,  against  the  insidious  social 
mechanism  which,  like  a  Divinity,  stands  undoubted 
and  unsuspected. 

If  we  descend  to  a  more  positive  and  practical 
sphere,  we  ask  how  it  has  happened  that  the  present 
social  system,  termed  Civilisation,  has  not  been  the 
object  of  scientific  investigation.  Had  its  mechanism 
been  analysed,  it  would  necessarily  have  been  dis- 
covered that  it  is  full  of  complication  and  waste,  and 
devoid  of  the  three  principle  characteristics  which 
mark  all  Nature's  operations :  ECONOMY  OF  MEANS,  DIS- 
TRIBUTIVE JUSTICE,  UNITY  OF  SYSTEM;  characteristics 


OBJECT    OF    THE    WORK.  5 

which  should  not  be  banished  from  the  social  rela- 
tions of  man. 

Butjkivilisatioii  in  its  various  branches  is  based 
upoivthe  incphe.  rentj  conflicting  efforts  of  individuals, 
between  whom,  not  only  noL.CjumQction  and-combi«ft— 

tiojl  exist,  but  f»n  thg  .jvmtrfliy   opposition    qnd 


petition  fnll.nf  hatrnrl  nnrl  nnvy^      If  we  take 

ture.  far  example,  the  present  condition  of  which. 
calls  so  _Jpjidl£  Jorjajs^^ 

fLndMitjmrstied  by  isolated  families,  mostly  without 
the  necessary  .capital  or  credit,  or  the  proper  im- 
plements, and  who  only  vie  with  each  other  in  an 
ignorant  and  injudicious  use  and  application  of  the 
soiL—  Human  labour  ajso  is  miserably  misapplied  : 
for,  in  the  absence  of  combination  between  those 
isolated  families,  no  appropriate  adaptation  of  ages 
and  sexes  to  functions  and  occupations  suited  to  them 
can  take  place,  ffinmen^  for  example,  are  absorbed 
in  a  monotonous  repetition  of  the  trivial  and  degrad- 
ing occupations  of  the  kitchen  and  needle  ;  —  degrad- 
ing because  they  have  to  be  so  continually  repeated 
and  on  so  small  a  scale.  Moreover  three-fourths  ot 
the  labour  of  children,  who  are  naturally  very  active, 
are  wasted,  owing  to  the  absence  of  association  be- 
tween neighbouring  households,  who,  if  united,  could 
^organise  minor  branches  of  industry  adapted  to  their 
strength  and  capacity,  which  besides  being  a  pleasure 
to  them,  would  develop  their  instincts  and  talents. 
The  rpot  then  of  snnial  incoherence  j«  tn  hp  found 
system  of  separate  hoyseholds,  or  as  many 


6  SOCIAL    DBSTINY    OF   MAN. 

distinct  houses  as  there  are  families,  which  is  the 
essence  of  complication  and  waste.  It  absorbs  the 
time,  as  we  observed,  of  one  sex  or  one-half  of  the 
human  race,  in  an  nuproductive  function,  which  has 
to  be  gone  through  with  as  many  times  as  there  are 
families.  The  monotony  of  such  an  operation  so 
eternally  and  uselessly  repeated,  (uselessly  because 
in  association  one  vast  kitchen  with  every  commodity 
would  replace  the  two  or  three  hundred  little  kitchens 
of  the  present  system,)  must  be  fatiguing  beyond  con- 
ception, and  its  endurance  must  require  all  the  patience 
of  the  female  character.  Let  nolthe  system_be  ^x- 
cusedj)y  saying_Jhat_the._  character...  of  woman  is 
parjiciilaxlxjidapted  to  it.  It  is  not  sp :  her  destiny  is 
not  to  waste  her  life  in  a  kitchen,  or  in  the  petty  cares 
of  a  household.  Nature- jaade-her  the  equal  -pf-man, 
and  equally  capable  of  shining  with  him  in  industry 
and  in  the  cultivation  of  the  arts  and. sciences; — not 
to  be  his  inferior,  to  cook  and  sew  for  him,  and  live 
dependently  at  his  board.  No  class  could  bring  so 
many  well  founded  complaints  against  the  social 
mechanism  as  women,  for  they  are  truly  its  slaves. 
There  is  no  hope  of  a  change  for^the.  better  but  jn 
association ;  whJ.cJ3j,J^.^.i'JJI!ipILfyiDg-IliiifitPpn  twen- 
tieths -of -the- .present  Jiaasehf>ld  cnmplimtinnj  would 
throw  ogenjto  them  the  broad  field  of  human  activity 
now  occupied  to  their  exclusion  by  roan  alone. 

Yes !  the  great  problem  which  should  be  the  absor- 
bing one  of  the  day,  i$[  ASSOCIATION.  "The  error  of 
science  is  that  it  has  been  engaged  for  five  and 


OBJECT    OF    THE    WORK.  7 

twenty  centuries  past,  in  political  and  administrative 
controversies  which  only  serve  to  excite  commotions. 
It  should  have  directed  its  attention  exclusively  to  the 
nrfTanigfltinfl  of  jndi?sfryr  to  the  art  of  associating 
our  isolated  households,  and  to  attaining  the  colossal 
economies,  the_enormons  profits,  which  such  an  asso- 
ciation would 


"It  is  well  known  that  agricultural  and  domestic 
association,  if  it  were  possible,  would  produce  gigan- 
tic profits;  the  Creator  of  course  was  well  aware  of 
it  ;  and  what  probably  was  his  intention  respecting  it  ? 
When  he  fixed  upon  our  industrial  relations,  he  could 
only  choose  between  combined  and  incoherent  industry. 
Which  of  the  two  modes  has  he  assigned  to  us?  If 
it  were  the  former,  as  we  may  suppose,  we  should 
have  proceeded  to  search  out  the  laws  which  he  must 
have  made  for  Association.  Any  serious  study  of  the 
problem  would  soon  have  led  to  its  solution." 

"This  has  been  overlooked;  tk^rnmhinfitjon  Qf  mas- 
se^ has  not  been  an  object  of  investigation,  and  sci- 
ence has  not  thought  of  speculating  on  the  following 
alternative  :  " 

"There  can  exist  but  two  methods  in  the  exercise  of 
Industry  ;  to  wit  :  the  incoherent  order,  or  cultivation 
carried  on  by  isolated  families  as  we  now  see  it  ;  or 
the  combined  order,  cultivation  by  large  assemblages, 
with  Jixed  laws  as  respects  an  equitable  distribution 
of  profits  to  each  individual,  according  to  the  three 
following  qualifications,  LABOUR,  CAPITAL,  TALEITT." 

"  Which  of  these  two  methods  is  the  one  designed  by 


8  SOCIAL   DESTINY    OF    MAN. 

the  Creator  ?  Is  it  the  incoherent  or  the  combined  ? 
There  can  be  no  hesitation  on  this  question.  God,  as 
supreme  economist,  must  have  prefered  Association, 
the  source  of  all  economy,  and  reserved  for  its  organi- 
sation some  means,  the  discovery  of  which  was  the 
task  of  genius." 

"If  Association  be  the  WISH  OF  THE  DIVINITY,  it 
follows  that  the  opposite  method,  individual  incoherent 
labour,  is  in  opposition  to  his  intention,  a  SOCIAL  SUB- 
VERSION, which  causes  the  predominance  of  all  scour- 
ges opposed  to  the  spirit  of  the  Divinity — indigence, 
fraud,  oppression,  carnage." 

And,  in  as  much  as  the  system  of  'incoherent  labour, 
the  basis  of  barbarian  and  civilised  societies,  per- 
petuates these  calamities  in  spite  of  all  the  efforts  of 
science,  it  is  self-evident  that  they  are  AN  ABYSS  OF 
ERROR,  the  antipodes  of  the  VIEWS  OF  GOD,  PORT.& 
INFERI,  from  which  man  can  only  escape  by  the  inven- 
tion and  organisation  of  association  and  combined 
industry." 

The  object  of  the  work,  therefore,  in  its  criticisms, 
will  be  to  pro y_e  that  industry  exercised_bv  isolated 
fajnili££,.OJ  as — it  might  be  termed — piftrftlmeat,  fracr- 
mpntnL  r.nltivnfmn,  is  a  miserable  system  O.f  waste 

and  poverty^  Th^  pn<?ifivR  fthjfv*  nf  thfl  work  on^ 
the  otherjiand  will  be  to  show — which  we  will  do  in 
the  succeeding  parts,  in  which  we  treat  of  the  prac- 
ticle  organisation  of  industry — that-Associatioais  pos- 
sible,  that  it  js^  the  destiny  of  man,  the.only  orderjn 
which  his  attractions,  passions  and  instincts  find  a 


OBJECT    OF    THE    WORK. 


and  a  useful_employ»- 


also  show,  thatLabour,_«xercised  in  groups  and  series 
o_f  groups,,  can  be  rendered  ATTRACTIVE,  and  that  the 
solution  of  the  two  vast  problems,  HARMONIC  ACTION 
OF  THE  PASSIONS,  and  ATTRACTIVE  INDUSTRY,  solves  all 
those  social  and  political  difficulties  which  have 
baffled  the  efforts  of  legislators,  and  for  whichreme- 
dies  have  been  and  are  still  vainly  sought  in  legis- 
lative enactments,  administrative  reforms,  moral  co- 
des and  revolutions.^ 


CHAPTER  FIRST. 

PREJUDICES   OF    THE   WORLD    AGAINST   ASSOCIATION. 

THE  treatise  on  Association,  which  we  publish,  will, 
no  doubt,  be  assailed  in  various  quarters,  and  by  all 
those  who  advocate  the  social  forms  and  prejudices, 
which  they  find  existing  around  them,  and  to  which 
time  has  given  sanction  and  stability.  To  such,  we 
have  but  one  answer  to  make,  let  them  produce  a 
better.  This  is  the  first,  which  has  appeared,  that 
treats  the  subject  scientifically :  it  calls  into  existence 
a  science  which  past  ages  have  neglected  or  deemed 
impracticable  or  impossible :  it  proposes  a  clear  and 
distinct  system  of  association  never  before  discovered : 
The  serie*  of  contrasted  groups  directed  by  the  com- 
bined action  of  the  three  Distributive  passions  If 
this  system  be  defective,  (and  of  this  we  cannot 
judge  until  a  trial  has  been  made,)  Science  should 

*  It  is  necessary  to  have  a  singular  and  plural  for  the  word 
series,  which  now  includes  both.  We  will  innovate  so  far  as 
to  make  use  of  serie  for  the  singular,  as  we  must  often  dis- 
tinguish rigorously  between  the  two  numbers. 


PREJUDICES  OF  THE  WORLD  AGAINST  ASSOCIATION.      11 

not,  on  that  account,  be  excused  from  discovering  a 
better. 

This  treatise,  however,  proves  that  science  has 
not  performed  its  duty  of  general  exploration,  and 
that,  with  its  assertions  of  impossibility  and  imprac- 
ticability, it  has  passed  over  two  very  important 
problems,  ASSOCIATION  AND  PASSIONAL  ATTRACTION,  stu- 
dies not  more  difficult  than  many  others;  since  a 
man,  without  the  aid  of  any  preceeding  researches 
on  the  subject,  has  treated  both  problems  and  solved 
them.  Until  experience  shall  have  tested  his  method, 
a  better  one  should  either  be  discovered,  or  trial 
made  of  the  only  one,  which  has  been  produced. 
That  Association,  the  art,  the  only  means  of  enrich- 
ing nations,  was  neglected  by  the  ancients,  is  not 
surprising,  as  they  paid  very  little  attention  to  the 
subject  of  national  wealth,  and  as  the  institution  of 
slavery  opposed  an  almost  invincible  obstacle  to 
practical  trials  in  combined  industry;  but  that  the 
present  generation, — so  active  in  searching  out  new 
means  of  acquiring  riches,  should  have  neglected 
such  trials,  and  should  have  hesitated  to  proclaim 
agricultural  and  domestic  association  to  be  the  princi- 
pal, nay,  the  only  road  to  collective  riches, — is  a 
blindness  truly  marvelous. 

This  neglect  seems  the  greater  and  more  shameful, 
because  obstacles,  which  arise  from  the  slavery 
of  the  cultivator  of  the  soil,  do  not  now  exist 
in  most  civilised  countries.  Our  men  of  science 
found  slavery  abolished,  and  that  abolition  was  a 


12  PREJUDICES  OF  THE  WORLD 

most  important  preliminary  to  attempts  at  the  or- 
ganization of  a  system  of  combined  industry. 

The  minds  of  political  economists  must  be  strangly 
misdirected  and  devoid  of  inventive  genius  or  good 
intentions,  if,  from  the  moment  that  the  cultivator  is 
free,  and  trials  can  be  made  of  combinations,  in 
numbers  of  500,  1000,  1500,  they  seek  elsewhere, 
for  the  means  of  collective  riches,  than  in  Association. 

The  sole  answer,  which  they  make,  is  the  following 
objection — a  prejudice  which  has  at  all  times  pre- 
vented researches  in  association: — "It  is  impossible 
to  associate  two  or  three  families  without  the  break- 
ing out  of  discord,  at  the  end  of  a  week, — particularly 
among  the  females ;  what  folly  then  is  it  to  attempt 
to  associate  two  or  three  hundred  ?" 

This  objection,  which  at  first  appears  reasonable, 
is  the  hight  of  folly;  and  to  prove  its  want  of  founda- 
tion by  a  single  fact,  we  need  but  remark  that  as 
great  economies  can  only  be  realized  in  large  as- 
semblages, and  not  at  all  in  small  ones,  the  Creator 
must  have  composed  his  plan  of  Association  for  a 
large  number  of  persons,  200  or  300  families,  and 
not  at  all  for  two  or  three,  which,  from  smallness 
of  number  and  insufficiency  of  efforts,  would  not 
raise  the  profit,  of  association  to  the  thirtieth  part  of 
what  they  would  be,  in  a  union  of  from  twelve  to 
fifteen  hundred  individuals. 

Therefore,  unless  we  suppose  the  Creator  deprived 
of  discernment,  we  must  adopt  it  as  a  principle,  that 
his  plan  is  applicable  only  to  large  Associations;  and 


AGAINST  ASSOCIATION.  13 

that  if  we  know  of  no  means  of  associating  two  or 
three  families,  it  is  an  indication  which  should  lead 
us  to  conclude,  as  economy  and  reason  would  dic- 
tate, that  he  has  composed  his  social  theory  for  a 
large,  and  not  for  a  small  number.  This  objection 
has  not  been  made  by  our  timid  theorists;  they  have 
suffered  themselves  to  be  discouraged  by  an  apparent 
obstacle,  which,  if  duly  weighed,  ought  rather  to  have 
sustained  their  hopes. 

An  other  indication  is,  that  Association,  although 
impossible  between  two  or  three  families  in  their 
domestic  operations,  is  not  impossible  in  other  affairs: 
we  see  it  exist  in  certain  branches  of  commerce,  such 
as  Banking  and  Insurance  Companies,  and  in  other 
cnterprizes,  in  which  the  number  of  Stockholders  may 
amount  to  one  or  two  thousand  persons.  We  see  it 
effective  in  large  mercantile  houses,  which  consist 
of  ten  and  twenty,  and  sometimes  more  co-partners. 
Some  commercial  and  manufacturing  establishments 
have  counting  houses  in  a  dozen  cities  or  sea-ports, 
and  number  often  as  many  as  fifty  active  partners 
without  including  accidental  ones,  such  as  those  who 
have  an  interest  in  a  particular  vessel  only,  or  a 
certain  part  of  its  cargo. 

Industrial  Association  is  consequently  a  faculty  ot 
man:  to  what  extent  then  can  it  be  carried  in 
agriculture,  manufacture  and  commerce,  and  above 
all  in  our  domestic  organization — which,  ivith  its 
system  of  incoherent,  isolated  households,  causes 
such  incalculable  waste  and  expense  ? 


14  PREJUDICES  OP  THE  WORLD 

From  the  proceeding  observations,  we  are  led  to- 
conclude  that  Association  is  profitable  only  on  its 
being  applied  to  a  large  number  of  persons ;  and  it 
is  evident  that,  if  the  Creator  has  composed  a  system 
for  the  social  relations  of  man,  he  must  have  adapted 
it  to  large  masses,  so  organized  as  to  find  in  their 
union  guarantees  of  practical  truth  and  faithful 
management. 

The  intentions  of  Providence  towards  man  have 
elicited  a  variety  of  opinions  more  or  less  irreverent: 
some  from  superstition  believe  that  we  are  con- 
demned to  privations  in  this  life;  others  from  philo- 
sophy that  we  are  destined  to  a  limited  degree  of 
happiness;  hence  it  arrises  that  the  idea  of  a  social 
code,  productive  of  results  truly  worthy  of  the  Crea- 
tor,— that  is  to  say,  infinite  in  generosity  and  magni- 
ficence, as  the  descriptions  of  Association  will  show, 
is  proclaimed  visionary  and  impossible. 

The  vanity  of  the  learned,  who  have  usurped  the 
domain  of  human  intelligence,  would  be  shocked  by 
such  aa  admission:  to  acknowledge  that  Association 
is  possible,  and  that  its  mechanism  should  be  an  ob- 
ject of  study,  would  be  to  acknowledge  that  Civiliza- 
tion is  a  social  subversion,  and  that  their  incoherent 
systems  are  theories  of  the  subversive  order.  They 
would  be  distrusted  from  the  moment  that  any  means 
could  be  shown  of  realizing  Association ;  hence  it 
arises  that  this  most  important  study  may  be  opposed 
by  the  literary  and  scientific  oracles  of  the  day,  be- 
cause they  see  the  danger  of  not  succeeding  in  it. 


AGAIWST  ASSOCIATION.  15 

and  of  wasting  uselessly  their  efforts  on  a  difficult 
problem,  which  would  open  the  way  to  an  attack 
upon  their  theories  of  industrial  incoherence  an<Lin- 
dividualism. 

Religion  on  the  other  hand  involuntarily  lends  them 
her  aid :  she  preaches  and  truly  preaches,  that  we 
should  be  content  with  little  in  the  present  state,  and 
disdain  the  goods  of  this  world,  since  nine-tenths  of 
civilizees  must  be  necessarily  deprived  of  them.  Its 
ministers  in  advancing  this  doctrine,  are  ignorant 
that  this  state  of  poverty  is  limited  to  the  Savage, 
Patriarchal,  Barbarian,  and  Civilized  orders,  four  sub- 
versive societies,  which  mark  the  social  infancy  of 
the  human  race.  Looking  upon  these  societies  as  the 
irevocable  destiny  of  man,  as  a  condition  of  evil  with- 
out remedy,  they  coincide  with  philosophers  in  the 
opinion  that  it  is  necessary  to  be  content  with  little, 
neglect  all  perspectives  of  immense  fortune  and  of 
general  happiness ;  and  this  opinion  is  equivalent  to 
a  neglect  of  the  study  of  a  social  order  which  would 
realize  them.  In  giving  this  advice,  however,  it  is 
with  the  intention  of  consoling  mankind  in  the  present 
state  of  suffering,  for  which  they  see  no  remedy; 
whereas  the  neglect  of  the  study  of  Association  by 
the  scientific  world  is  owing  to  a  prepossession  in 
favor  of  existing  theories,  or  to  a  misplaced  vanity. 

We  will  here  point  out  one  or  two  of  the  most 
plausible  errors  which  have  been  committed,  and  the 
inconsistency  of  those  who  have  accredited  them ; 
these  are : 


16  PREJUDICES  OF  THE  WORLD. 

I.  Inference  drawn  from  a  small  obstacle  to  a 
larger  one. 

j£.     Dazzling  contrast  between  evil  and  good. 

Inference  drawn  from  a  small  obstacle  to-a  larger 
one :  Since  it  is  impossible  to  associate  two,  three  or 
fdlir  families,  or  even  ten  to  twelve,  the  conclusion  has 
been  drawn  that  it  would  be  still  more  impossible  to 
associate  two  or  three  hundred. 

The  world,  in  this  opinion,  may  be  compared  to 
the  timid  mariners,  who,  before  Christopher  Columbus, 
dared  not  advance  more  than  six  or  eight  hundred 
miles  into  the  Atlantic,  and  who  returned  dismayed, 
declaring  that  this  ocean  was  an  endless  waste,  and 
that  it  was  madness  to  venture  upon  it.  Had  some 
bolder  navigator  extended  his  voyage  twelve  or  fif- 
teen hundred  miles  without  finding  America,  it  would 
have  been  declared  that  the  hypothesis  of  a  new  con- 
tinent was  without  foundation.  If  at  length  a  vessel, 
with  still  more  temerity,  had  advanced  westward 
twenty-five  or  thirty  hundred  miles,  it  would  also 
have  returned  without  success,  and  in  that  case  the 
existence  of  a  new  continent  would  have  been  decla- 
red a  wild  chimera:  however,  to  succeed  it  was  only 
necessary  to  presist,  push  onward  and  proceed  a  few 
hundred  miles  further. 

Such  was  the  method  to  be  followed  in  the  study 
of  Association.  It  required  no  other  effort  of  genius 
than  to  persevere,  go  on  and  not  be  discouraged  by 
the  failure  of  small  trials,  but  to  continue  gradually 
increasing  them.  If  trials  with  four  families  failed,  we 


AGAINST  ASSOCIATION. 


17 


should  have  speculated  upon  eight;  failing  with  eight, 
we  should  have  speculated  upon  sixteen  ;  failing  with 
sixteen,  we  shculd  have  tried  thirty-two;  then  sixty- 
four.  Arrived  at  this  point,  success  would  have  fol- 
lowed, provided  the  law  of  the  Groups*  and  Series 
was  discovered — which  discovery  is  easy  when  trial* 
are  made  with  three  hundred  and  fifty  or  four  hundred 
persons. 

In  case  different  kinds  of  practical  trials  were  un- 
dertaken, interest,  which  is  the  best  guide,  would  soon 
have  led  the  projectors  to  perceive : 

That  in  large  associations,  it  is  necessary  to  class 
the  workmen  in  groups  homogeneous  in  tastes,  and  con- 
nect those  groups  together  in  an  ascending  and  dc- 
cending  seric,  in  order  to  develop  the  inclinations  of 
each  individual  and  excite  the  emulation,  which  arisen 
from  a  methodical  opposition  of  contrasts  or  difference* 
of  tastes. 

That  emulation,  that  industrial  perfection,  and,  ay 
a  consequence,  profits,  increase  in  ratio  with  the  can- 
which  is  taken  to  develop  and  distribute  shades  of 
taste,  and  form  of  the  various  shades  an  equal  number 
of  groups  which  compose  the  seric.  , 

*  Group :  an  assemblage  of  an  indefinite  number  of  persona 
3,  7,  9  or  more,  forming  a  company,  or  squad,  united  for  the 
purpose  of  exercising1  some  branch  of  industry  for  which  they 
have  a  passion.  Each  group  has  its  officers,  its  regulations, 
laws,  &c.  A  eerie  is  a  number  of  these  groups  connected 
together,  so  as  to  form  wings  and  centres; — the  first  winp 
forms  the  ascending,  the  other  the  descending  pait  of  thr 
Serie.  This  subject  will  be  fully  explained  hereafter. 

2 


18  PREJUDICES  OF  THE  WORLD  • 

These  principles  would  have  directed  us  rightly ; 
it  would  then  have  remained  to  graduate,  and  coun- 
terbalance the  series,  and  determine  ^he  method  of 
forming  their  connexion  and  harmonic  action. 

Short  sighted  politicians,  who  thought  they  were 
acting  wisely  in  speculating  on  small  assemblages  of 
fifteen  or  twenty  families,  have  fallen  into  a  double 
error : 

1st.  In  taking  a  small  number,  which  neither  pro- 
duces great  economies,  nor  offers  the  means  of  a  sys- 
tematic organization ; 

2d.  In  bringing  into  action  the  family  spirit, 
which,  tending  to  selfishness,  should  be  absorbed  by 
corporative  ties. 

A  man,  connected  from  passion  with  thirty  groups 
exercising  divers  branches  of  industry,  will  be  as 
strongly  attatched  to  the  interests  of  these  thirty  groups 
as  to  those  of  his  family.  This  will  arise  from  the 
fact  that  in  a  Serie,  stimulated  by  powerful  emulation 
and  contrasts  of  tastes,  the  groups  admit  no  members 
devoid  of  enthusiasm  ;  and  besides  he  will  know  that 
in  Association,  his  family,  being  guaranteed  a  copious 
minimum,  or  sufficiency  of  food,  raiment,  and  lodging, 
cannot  for  the  present  or  the  future,  be  exposed  in 
any  way  to  want.  Encouraged  by  these  conside- 
rations and  carried  away  by  his  thirty  industrial  in- 
clinations, he  will  act  for  the  good  of  his  thirty  groups ; 
that  is  to  say,  for  the  entire  Phalanx.*  He  will  be 

*  Phalanx  is  a  conventional  name  which  we  will  give  to  an 
association  of  from  four  hundred  to  two  thousand  persons.  Some 


AGAINST  ASSOCIATION.  19 

truly  a  citizen,  in  every  sense  of  the  word,  devoted 
to  the  interest  of  the  mass. 

The  combined  action  of  each  individual  with  that 
of  the  mass  cannot  take  place  in  civilization,  where 
individual  interest  is  always  in  conflict  with  collec- 
tive interest.  We  can  judge  of  the  fact  by  forests 
and  fisheries,  which  every  one  ravages  for  his  per- 
sonal profit,  although  the  mass  of  the  inhabitants 
desire  their  preservation,  as  does  the  individual  him- 
self who  commits  the  ravage,  but  he  is  led  to  do  it 
by  considerations  of  personal  gain,  which  induce  him 
to  act  against  the  interests  of  the  mass.  This  is  one 
of  the  shameful  results  of  civilized  politics,  which,  in 
practice,  is  always  in  contradiction  with  theory, 
always  in  duplicity  of  action;  although,  in  principle, 
it  lakes  unity  for  its  guide. 

AH  unity  should  produce  system  and  combination 
of  efforts.  Our  civilized  mechanism,  our  incoherent 
industry  only  produces  a  collision  of  individual  efforts, 
tending  to  general  evil. 

Convinced  of  this  vice,  our  political  economists 
should  have  made  the  means  of  realizing  unity  their 
object  of  search.  It  is  only  to  be  found  in  agricul- 
tural Association.  But  we  repeat  that  the  first  error 
of  the  human  mind,  in  this  conjuncture,  has  been^e 
inference  drawn  from  a  small  obstacle  to  a  larger  one  ; 

such  term  is  necessary  to  designate,  without  circumlocution,  the  • 
union  of  the  above  number  of  persons ;  as  the  word  village 
does  at  present. 

2* 


20  PREJUDICES  OP  THE  WORLD 

the  errdneous  presumption  that,  if  trials  of  Association 
Avith  two  or  three  families,  or  twenty  or  thirty  families 
had  failed,  «uch  trials  would  the  more  certainly  fail 
with  two  or  three  hundred  ;  whereas  with  the  number 
seventy  (supposing  five  persons  on  an  average  to  a 
family,)  success  would  have  been  easy,  upon  condition 
of  sounding  and  determining  step  by  step,  the  suitable 
organization. 

2d  Error :  The  dazzling  contrast  between  good  and 
evil.  This  is  an  error  common  to  both  the  learned 
and  the  ignorant.  The  riches,  unity  and  other  im- 
mense results  which  Association  promises,  disconcert 
the  generality  of  mankind  accustomed  to  the  miseries 
of  civilization.  They  declare  that  such  results  are 
chimeras :  that  so  much  happiness  is  not  made  for  man  ; 
that  they  are  illusions  of  an  Harmony,  which  is  not  pos- 
sible. This  contrast  of  a  happy  future  with  the  pre- 
sent miserable  state,  has  become  a  general  obstacle 
to  investigation,  and  it  is  the  second  of  excusable  in- 
advertencies. To  appreciate  its  falseness,  let  us  com- 
pare it  with  some  other  erroneous  prepossession  of  the 
same  kind,  which  experience  has  now  dissipated. 

For  four  thousand  years,  the  world  did  not  hope  to 
discover  a  safe  nautical  guide,  like  the  marinerrs 
compass;  it  did  not  even  think  of  searching  for  it: 
and  navigators,  although  victims  of  shipwrecks,  had 
become  accustomed  to  consider  them  as  an  unavoid- 
able evil.  How  many  among  them  for  the  want  of 
this  guide,  the  discovery  of  which  was  so  easy,  must 
have  murmured  against  Providence  !  Now  that  we 


AGAINST    ASSOCIATION.  21 

possess  it,  we  see  what  dupes  the  mariners  of  Tyre 
and  Carthage,  who  were  deprived  of  it,  would  have 
been;  had  they  refused  to  believe  in  the  possibility, 
of  such  a  discovery — as  easy  of  being  made  then  as 
in  the  twelfth  century.  If  some  inventor  had  appeared 
among  them  with  this  inestimable  guide,  promising 
to  direct  vessels  in  the  darkness  of  night  as  well  as 
at  noon  day,  how  great  would  their  folly  have  been, 
had  they  answered,  before  any  trial  had  been  made,  that 
it  was  impossible ;  that  so  much  happiness  was  not  made 
for  mariners  ! 

The  present  age  falls  into  the  same  puerile  error 
respecting  Association,  declaring  that  it  is  impossible  ; 
that  so  much  happiness  is  not  made  for  man.  The 
scientific  world  commits  this  mistake  whenever  spe- 
culations of  use  to  mankind  are  discussed; — it 
abandons  all  search  before  the  sage  word  IMPOSSIBLE. 
Immense  labors,  however,  are  bestowed  on  metaphy- 
sical subtilitics,  which  lead  to  no  examination  of  social 
questions  and  from  which  the  social  order  derives  no 
advantage.  • 

If  the  author  of  the  system  of  Association  had  fallen 
into  this  error ;  if,  instead  of  employing  thirty  years 
in  calculating  its  mechanism,  he  had  declared  that  if. 
was  too  magnificent,  therefore  impossible,  the  theory 
of  Association  would  still  remain  to  be  discovered. 
The  sect  of  imfauMiH*  has  done  a  great  deal  of 
harm  to  mankind; — a  more  dangerous  sect  does  not 
exist ;  it  certainly  is  the  most  perverse  one  in  the 
scientific  world. 


22  PREJUDICES  OF  THE  WORLD 

The  more  an  operation,  the  means  of  realizing 
which  we  are  ignorant  of,  is  proved  useful,  the  more 
firmly  we  should  believe  that  the  Creator,  convinced 
of  its  utility,  would  have  reserved  measures  for  rea- 
lizing it.  This  conviction  would  have  been  a  power- 
ful stimulant  to  investigation;  but  such  a  conviction 
requires  an  age  impressed  with  a  true  hope  in  the 
Divinity,  and  a  profound  faith  in  the  universality 
of  His  Providence.  And  what  will  be  the  surprise  of 
the  present  age  when  it  sees,  that  Association,  which 
it  declared  impossible,  owing  to  the  magnificence  of 
its  results,  is  precisely  the  order,  for  which  God  has 
created  the  kingdoms  of  nature,  subject  to  our  indus- 
try, and  for  which  above  all  he  has  made  the  pas- 
sions, now  so  rebellious  to  our  civilized  system  of 
industrial  incoherence ! 

Despair,  discouragement,  apathy  and  abandonment 
of  all  investigation,  are  the  characteristics  of  the 
modern  age  in  all  problems  out  of  the  general  sphere 
of  its  science. 

This  vice  has  delayed  a  great  number  of  discoveries ; 
among  others  that  of  the  mariner's  compass,  which 
the  Chinese  possessed  a  thousand  years  before  us. 

And  why  should  the  Divinity  have  given  us  desires 
for  the  reign  of  justice  and  truth,  for  social  harmony, 
for  happiness  based  upon  riches  and  pleasure  ?  Why 
should  he  have  caused  the  human  mind  to  speculate 
without  cessation  upon  these  desired  goods,  if  he  had 
not  prepared  the  means  of  guaranteeing  to  us  their 
possession  ?  The  Creator  distributes,  to  each  species 


AGAINST  ASSOCIATION.  23 

of  creatures,  attractions  which  they  can  and  may 
satisfy.  If  he  gave  to  man  or  to  the  animal  useless 
or  prejudicial  attractions,  he  would  be  the  tyrant  of 
nature,  and  not  its  equitable  Sovereign.  He  conse- 
quently must  have  reserved,  to  the  human  race  entire, 
the  means  of  obtaining  those  goods  which  they  uni- 
versally desire.  Those  means  are  only  to  be  found  in 
a  social  order  adapted  to  the  nature  of  man,  and  in 
unison  with  the  law  which  distributes  the  harmonies 
of  the  Universe — the  law  of  the  Groups  and  Series. 

It  would  have  been  discovered  long  since ;  had 
Science  fulfilled  her  duty,  and  explored  all  the 
branches  of  neglected  studies.  This  is  the  stand  to  be 
taken  to  oppose  those  who  attack  Association ;  their 
objections  are  easily  overcome  by  showing  the  neglect 
of  all  investigation  of  this  important  problem  by  the 
scientific  and  political  world.  In  answer  to  their 
objections  of  impracticability,  we  have  only  to  say : 
This  is  the  first,  the  only  theory  which  has  appeared 
upon  Association  ;  if  you  reject  it,  invent  a  better  one; 
and — if  you  cannot,  before  condemning  it,  await  its 
trial. 


24  COMBINED   INDUSTRY. 

General  Table  of  reference  of  the  Mode  of  opera- 
Combined,  Attractive  Industry ;  and  of  Civiliza- 

• 
X\X  COMBINED  INDUSTRY  OPERATES, 

1.'  By  the  largest  possible  Assemblages  in  every 
branch  of  Industry ; 

2.  By  occupations  of  the  shortest  duration  and  the 
greatest  variety ; 

3.  By  the  most  detailed  subdivision  of  labour,  ap- 
plying a  group  of  workmen  to  each  subdivision ; 

BY  ATTRACTION,  BY  CHARM* 

V- 

RESULTS  OF  COMBINED,  ATTRACTIVE  INDUSTRY. 

1.  General  and  graduated  riches; 

2.  Practical  truth  in  business  and  social  relations; 

3.  Real  and  effective  liberty ; 

4.  Constant  peace ; 

5.  Equilibrium  of  temperature  and  climate; 

6.  System  of  preventive  medicine; 

7.  Opening  offered  to  all  ameliorations  and  im- 
provements ; 

GENERAL  CONFIDENCE,  AND  UNITY  OF  ACTION. 


INCOHERENT    INDUSTRY.  25 

tion  and  of  the  Results  of  Association,  based  on 
tion,  based  on  Incoherent,  Repugnant  Industry. 

• 
INCOHERENT  INDUSTRY  OPERATES, 

1.  By  the  smallest  Assemblages  in  Industry  and 
Households  ; 

2.  By  occupations  of  the  longest  duration  and  the 
greatest  monotony ; 

3.  By  the  greatest  complication,  requiring  of  a  single 
individual  the  execution  of  all  the  details  of  a  work ; 

BY  CONSTRAINT,  BY  WANT. 

RESULTS  OF  INCOHERENT,  REPUGNANT  INDUSTRY. 

1.  Indigence ; 

2.  Fraud; 

3.  Oppression ; 

4.  War; 

5.  Derangement  of  climate  ; 

6.  Diseases  artificially  produced, — plague,  yellow 
and  typhus  fever,  cholera,  &c. ; 

7.  Vicious    circle  without   any  opening  for  im- 
provements ; 

GENERAL  DISTRUST,  A\D  DCPLICITY  OF  ACTION. 


26  PRELIMINARY. 


CHAPTER  SECOND. 

PRELIMINARY. 
I  respect  the  dignity  of  human  nature. 


Channing. 


It  seems  to  me  that  Eternal  Wisdom  could  only  prescribe 
what  was  conformable  to  the  nature  of  Man,  and  that  She 
should  have  adapted  her  laws  to  the  being  whom  She  had 
created.  Spurzheim. 

In  true  Association,  individual  interests,  so  far  from  being 
mixed,  confounded,  sacrificed  or  even  subjected  to  those  of 
the  mass  or  community,  should  remain  essentially  distinct ; 
and  individual  will  should  act  for  the  greatest  good  of  the 
whole,  without  being  violated  or  constrained. 

J.  Muiron. 

All  community  of  property  is  the  grave  of  individual 
liberty.  Dean. 

Association  is  the  most  brilliant  problem,  which  can  occupy 
the  mind  of  man.  It  is  a  mean  of  uniting  all  individual  forces 
and  intelligences,  now  so  miserably  wasted  and  misapplied, 
and  of  directing  them  to  great  and  important  undertakings. 
Society,  strong  with  the  strength  of  all  its  members,  its  power 
not  fretted  away  by  the  interminable  conflicts  of  individuals, 
between  whom  no  combination  exists,  could  undertake,  with 
intelligence  and  foresight,  gigantic  operations,  which  a  Society 
like  ours,  circumscribed  to  the  mere  effort  of  individuals,  cannot 
conceive,  or  which,  if  it  does,  it  declares  chimeras  and  illusions. 


PRELIMINARY.  27 

We  have  seen  combinations  of  masses  in  armies,  but  only 
for  purposes  of  destruction;  still,  the  immense  results  produced 
should  have  led  us  to  speculate  upon  what  could  be  accomplish- 
ed if  that  force  were  rightly  directed.  When  we  reflect  upon 
the  ravages  of  some  armies — ravages  which  exceed  in  extent 
all  that  Nature  in  the  fury  of  earthquakes  and  hurricanes 
has  done — we  ask,  what  could  not  the  human  races  accomplish, 
if,  associated  in  strength  and  intelligence,  they  proposed,  as 
the  sole  aim  of  their  efforts,  objects  of  interest  and  advantage 
to  all  1 

If  we  can  abstract  ourselves  from  the  insignificance  of  the 
present,  caused  by  the  divergency  and  interminable  conflicts 
of  individual  interests,  and  ponder ^>n  the  vast  problem  of  As- 
sociation, we  shall  be  convinced  as  we  study,  that  its  reality 
will  surpass  all  we  now  dare  anticipate. 

How  has  it  happened  that,  for  three  thousand  years  past, 
since  the  first  dawn  of  Grecian  science,  this  problem,  which 
would  be  such  a  mighty  lever  in  the  affairs  of  man,  has  not 
occupied  the  attention  of  legislators,  politicians,  or  philosophers  ? 
It  is  because  they  have  been  absorbed  in  political  quarrels, 
which  still  exclusively  occupy  the  leaders  of  Society. 

It  is  time,  however,  that  they  perceived,  that  gorernment 
and  administrative  controversies,  are  merely  superficial  ques- 
tions; that  our  evils  are  social,  not  political ;  and  that  political 
reforms  can  never  extirpate  them. 

The  root  of  the  evil  is  in  the  social  organisation  itself;  and, 
until  we  attack  it  there,  no  permanent  or  beneficial  reforms 
can  be  expected.  The  great  fundamental  question,  therefore, 
which  should  occupy  the  attention  of  men,  is  a  re-organization 
of  Society.  Such  a  proposition  may  appear  wild  and  extra- 
vagant, and  its  execution  far  beyond  the  power  of  the  most  in- 
fluential. But,  extravagant  or  not,  it  must  be  undertaken,  or 
we  must  resign  ourselves  to  creep  on  through  our  present 
social  poverty  and  injustice.  If  it  be  asserted,  as  it  undoubt- 
edly will  be,  that  a  change  in  Society  is  impossible,  that  it  is 


28  •  PRELIMINARY. 

/ 

time  and  labour  thrown  away  to  attempt  it,  we  answer,  we 
are  not  more  vainly  employed  than  all  our  politicians  and 
those  who  take  an  interest  in  politicals  quarrels,  which  are 
more  useless  still;  —  for,  supposing  that  the  various  parties 
could  in  turn  obtain  a  preponderence  and  carry  out  their 
little,  petty  plans,  would  they  ameliorate  in  any  way  the 
social  condition  of  the  mass  ?  Would  crime,  indigence,  and 
injustice  be  done  away  with  ?  Not  at  all.  They  overlook 
entirely  these  fundamental  evils,  which  are  destined  to  increase 
in  an  equal  ratio  with  the  increase  of  population,  provided  the 
civilized  social  system  is  continued.  We  had  better,  therefore, 
devote  our  efforts  to  an  undertaking  which,  if  it  succeed,  would 
produce  gigantic  results,,  and  be  of  vast  benefit  to  mankind, 
than  to  one  which  even  if  accomplished,  will  result  in  nothing, 
save  satisfying  the  ambition  of  a  few  leaders. 

Let  us  ask  those  leaders  if  they  believe  that  wilh  the  wisest 
and  best  concerted  administrative  and  political  reforms,  social 
misery  would  cease ;  that  crime  and  indigence,  as  we  before 
observed,  would  be  done  away  with;  that  education,  labour  and 
a  sufficiency  would  be  guaranteed  to  all ;  that  anxiety  and  un- 
certainty of  the  future  would  be  appeased ;  that  a  social  provi- 
dence would  take  the  place  of  the  indifference  and  selfishness 
of  the  individual  for  the  mass,  and  the  mass  for  the  individual ; 
that  concert  of  action,  in  short,  would  replace  the  interminable 
conflicts  of  interest  which  waste  the  efforts  of  society  ? 

The  answer  will  be  that  these  evils  are  inseparable  from 
human  nature,  that  they  are  the  lot,  the  destiny  of  man.  This 
is  the  echo  of  a  prejudice  which  has  sunk  deeply  into  the 
minds  of  men.  It  has  destroyed  all  hope  of  a  better  future, 
and,  with  that  hope,  the  most  powerful  stimulant  we  could  appeal 
to,  to  search  for  a  better  order  of  things. 

Has  this  conviction  arisen  from  a  profound  study  of  the  nature 
of  man  and  of  the  organisation  of  society  ?  Is  it  mathematically 
proved  that  the  former,  from  causes  inherent  in  his  constitution, 
is  incapable  of  anything  better  than  the  discord  and  depravity 


PRELIMINARY.  29 

which  disgrace  the  race?  Philosophers  have  only  given  us 
theories  on  the  generation  of  ideas,  have  only  occupied  them- 
selves with  metaphysical  discussions  on  the  nature  of  the 
conscience,  of -the  will,  &c.,  which  are  merely  secondary, 
accessory  questions.  What  we  want,  is  a  fundamental  theory 
or  science  of  the  springs  of  action  of  the  soul — the  passions. 
It  is  only  by  a  study  of  Passional  Attraction,  that  we  can  dis- 
cover the  social  system  adapted  to  our  Instincts  and  Attractions 
— that  is  to  our  active  nature.  This  has  been  entirely  neglected. 
All  ages  have  condemned  the  passions,  and  the  matter  has 
rested  there. 

As  to  social  order,  it  is  universally  declared,  that  it  cannot  be 
changed:  no  analysis,  no  examination  of  its  mechanism  takes 
place.  Such  a  state  of  ignorance  should  make  men  hesitate  to 
.assert  positively  that  man  is  depraved,  and  that  no  other 
form  of  Society  is  possible. 


Before  entering  into  practical  details  upon  the  economies  of 
Association,  we  have  a  favor  to  ask  of  our  readers.  We 
particularly  request  them  not  to  confound  the  system  of  Asso- 
ciation which  we  shall  propose,  with  ^hose  monotonous  and 
monastic  trials  which  have  been  attempted  or  executed  by 
Mr.  Owen,  the  Rappites,  Shakers,  and  others.  Although  well 
intended,  the  monotony,  the  absence  of  individual  property  (the 
greatest  guarantee  of  individual  liberty)  which  characterize 
them,  have  excited  a  distrust  on  the  part  of  the  public  against 
Association.  We  wish  particularly  in  the  outset,  to  do  away 
with  any  prejudices  of  the  kind,  which  may  exist  against  our 
plan  in  the  mind  of  the  reader. 

Man  is  a  being  of  a  compound  nature ;  to  be  happy,  the  field 
of  intellectual  and  material  enjoyment  must  be  thrown  open 
to  him.  The  present  social  organization  in  which  there  is  so 
much  real  and  relative  poverty,  not  only  shuts  out  from  the 
mass  the  world  of  intellectual  enjoyment,  but  opprr.ssi*  them 
with  poverty  and  anxiety. 


30  PRELIMINARY. 

As  attractive  industry  does  not  exist,  as  industry  has  not 
been  ennobled,  as  but,  little  encouragement  and  extension  is 
given  to  the  fine  arts  and  the  sciences,  the  rich  themselves  find 
few  occupations  which  unite  pleasure  and  health.  Our  defec- 
tive Societies,  with  their  monotony  and  staleness,  circumscribe 
the  individual,  even  in  large  cities,  to  a  most  narrow  social 
circle,  confine  him  to  a  single  occupation  without  variety,  and 
oppress  in  one  way  or  other  all  classes,  both  rich  and  poor. 

The  systems  of  Association,  which  have  been  attempted, 
have  merely  aimed  at  a  guarantee  of  physical  sufficiency,  with 
the  aid  of  constraints  and  repulsive  personal  economies.  In- 
dustry has  remained  repugnant  and  entirely  devoid  of  emulation 
and  charm.  The  intellectual  world,  the  world  of  art  and 
science,  of  poetry  and  imagination,  have  been  neglected  as 
incompatible  with  industry  and  the  cares  of  life.  The  mind, 
with  its  higher  aspirations  and  delights,  has  been  sacrificed  to 
procure  the  necessaries  of  life. 

If  we  would  organize  an  Association  like  these,  we  should 
wish  as  a  consequence  to  sink  or  degrade  mankind  lower 
than  they  now  are  in  our  civilized  Societies.  So  far  from  hav- 
ing this  for  our  object,  we  wish  to  elevate  them  infinitely  above 
their  present  condition  in  the  most  favored  of  countries.  We 
wish  to  throw  open  to  them  the  entire  field  of  human  activity, 
develop  all  their  faculties  and  powers,  guarantee  to  each 
member  of  the  great  human  family  equal  social  chances,  which 
would  result  in  the  richest  and  most  varied  development  of 
genius.  Such  a  state  would  not  produce  a  monotonous  equality, 
but  would  call  forth  an  infinite  variety  of  tastes  and  capacities, 
adapted  to  all  functions.  Each  individual  would  form  a  note 
in  the  gfeat  concert,  and  would  perform  his  part  in  the 
mechanism  of  the  whole. 

The  Earth  is  the  great  theatre  of  action ;  the  human  race 
are  the  actors  upon  it :  let  the  fertility  and  riches  of  the  one, 
and  the  genius  and  imaginations  of  the  other  be  the  only 
limits  to  the  happiness  and  greatness  of  man. 


PRELIMINARY.  31 

If  we  have  expressed  our  feelings  strongly  upon  the  im- 
mense results,  which  Association  will  certainly  produce,  it  is 
because  we  have  felt  'an  instinctive  repugnance  at  the  idea 
of  the  reader's  connecting  anything,  like  monotony,  restraint 
and  privation  of  individual  liberty  with  our  undertaking.  All 
we  ask  is  an  attentive  perusal,  and  we  promise  the  explication 
of  a  great  discovery,  relating  to  the  nature  of  man,  and  the 
organization  of  Society,  which  the  world  has  been  far  from 
suspecting. 


32  ECONOMIES   OF   ASSOCIATION. 


CHAPTER  THIRD. 

ECONOMIES      OF      ASSOCIATION. 

We  see,  here  and  there,  a  few  examples  of  Associa- 
tion, referrible  to  instinct  or  accident  merely,  which 
should  have  led  to  further  investigations.  The 
peasants  of  Jura,  in  Switzerland,  finding  that  the 
milk  collected  by  a  single  family  will  not  make  a 
cheese  which  is  very  much  esteemed,  called  gruyere, 
unite  and  bring  their  milk  daily  to  a  common  depot, 
where  notes  are  kept  of  the  quantity  deposited  by 
each  family  ;  and  from  these  small  collections  a  large 
and  very  valuable  cheese  is  manufactured,  which  is 
divided  pro  rata  among  those  who  contribute  to  it. 

We  see  Association  in  some  countries  also  in- 
troduced into  minor  details  of  frural  economy, — in  a 
common  oven  for  instance.  A  hamlet  of  a  hundred 
families  know  that  if  it  were  necessary  to  construct, 
keep  in  repair  and  heat  a  hundred  separate  ovens, 
it  would  cost  in  masonry,  fuel  and  management,  ten 
times  as  much  as  one  oven  in  common — the  economy 
of  which  is  increased  twenty  and  thirty  fold,  if  the 
village  contain  two  or  three  hundred  families. 


ECONOMIES     OF     ASSOCIATION.  33 

It  follows,  that  if  Association  could  be  applied  to 
all  the  details  of  domestic  and  agricultural  operations, 
an  economy  on  an  average  of  nine-tenths  would  re- 
sult from  it — independent  of  the  additional  product, 
which  would  arise  from  the  saving  of  hands  employed 
in  other  functions.  We  do  not,  therefore,  exaggerate 
in  stating  that  domestic  Association  on  the  smallest 
scale — say  of  four  hundred  persons — would  yield  a 
product,  six  times  as  great  as  that  which  is  now  ob- 
tained from  our  present  system  of  incoherent,  isolated, 
'piece-meal  cultivation.  As  a  counter-proof,  let  us 
estimate  the  expense,  which  would  result  from  the 
subdivision  of  certain  branches  of  labor,  now  executed 
on  a  large  scale — like  that  of  brewing.  If  every  family 
made  its  beer,  it  would  cost  ten  times  that  of  the 
brewer,  whose  profit  consists  in  malting  for  a  thousand 
persons.  We  may  add,  that  of  all  these  separate 
preparations,  a  portion  would  be  badly  prepared  and 
wasted,  and  the  mass  would,  with  equally  good 
materials,  be  of  an  inferior  quality,  since  talent  and 
perfection  of  machinery  can  be  united  only  in  large 
manufactories. 

Certain  classes — soldiers  for  example — are  forced 
from  necessity  to  resort  to  the  economies  of  Associa- 
tion. If  they  prepared  their  scanty  meals  separately, 
as  many  soups  as  there  are  individuals,  instead  of 
preparing  for  a  large  number  at  once,  it  would  cost 
them  a  vast  deal  of  expense  and  trouble;  and  they 
would  not  be  as  well  served,  although  the  outlay 
would  be  increased  threefold.  Suppose  that  a  mon- 

3 


34  ECONOMIES   OF   ASSOCIATION. 

astery  of  thirty  monks  had  thirty  different  kitchens, 
thirty  fires,  and  every  thing  else  in  the  same  ratio; 
it  is  certain  that,  while  expending  six  times  as  much 
in  materials,  cooking  implements  and  hire  of  servants, 
they  would  be  infinitely  worse  served  than  if  there 
was  unity  in  their  household  organization. 

How  has  it  happened,  that  the  politicians  of  the 
day,  so  immersed  in  their  minute  calculations  and 
economies,  have  not  thought  of  developing  these 
germs  of  social  economy,  and  of  extending  both  to 
rural  and  city  populations  some  system  of  domestic 
Association,  examples  of  which  we  see  scattered  here 
and  there  in  our  present  state  of  Society  ?  Could  not 
some  mechanism  in  which  landed  and  other  property 
would  be  represented  by  stock,  divided  into  shares, 
be  discovered,  that  would  induce  three  hundred  farm- 
ing families  to  form  an  Association,  in  which  every 
person  would  be  paid  occording  to  the  three  follow- 
ing qualifications — LABOR,  CAPITAL.,  TALENT?  No 
economist  has  directed  his  attention  to  this  important 
problem  :  nevertheless,  how  great  would  be  the  pro- 
fits in  case  one  vast  granary  or  barn,  well  managed 
and  overseen,  could  be  substituted  for  our  three 
hundred  barns,  exposed  to  rats,  weevil  and  fire ! 

As  the  problem  is  solved,  we  must  not  be  stopped 
by  apparent  obstacles,  but  investigate  the  immensity 
of  the  economies  of  Association  in  the  smallest 
details. 

Instead  of  a  hundred  milk-men  who  lose  a  hundred 
days  in  the  city,  one  or  two  would  be  substituted, 


ECONOMIES   OF    ASSOCIATION.  35 

with  properly  constructed  vehicles  for  performing 
their  work.  Instead  of  a  hundred  farmers  who 
go  to  market,  and  lose  in  the  taverns  and  groceries 
of  the  city  a  hundred  days,  three  or  four  to  manage 
and  oversee,  with  as  many  wagons,  would  take  their 
place.  Instead  of  three  hundred  kitchens,  requiring 
three  hundred  fires,  and  wasting  the  time  of  three 
hundred  women,  one  vast  kitchen  with  three  fires 
for  preparing  the  food  of  three  different  tables,  at 
different  prices,  for  the  various  classes  of  fortune, 
would  be  sufficient ;  ten  women  would  perform  the 
same  function  which  now  requires  three  hundred. 

We  are  astonished  when  we  reflect  upon  the 
colossal  profits,  which  would  result  from  these  large 
Associations.  Take  fuel  alone,  which  has  become 
so  expensive  ;  is  it  not  evident,  that  for  cooking  and 
the  warming  of  rooms,  Association  would  save  seven- 
eighths  of  the  wood,  which  our  present  system  of  in- 
coherent and  isolated  households  wastes  and  con- 
sumes ? 

The  parallel  is  equally  glaring,  if  we  compare 
theoretically  or  in  imagination  the  cultivation  of  a 
domain  in  Association,  overseen  like  a  single  farm, 
with  the  same  extent  of  country,  cut  up  into  little 
farms,  and  subjected  to  the  caprice  of  three  hundred 
families.  Here  one  makes  a  meadow  of  a  sloping 
piece  of  land,  which  Nature  destines  to  the  vine;  an 
other  sows  wheat  where  grass  should  grow  ;  a  third 
to  avoid  buying  grain,  clears  a  declivity  which  the 
rains  will  strip  of  its  soil  the  following  year ;  while 

3* 


36  ECONOMIES   OF    ASSOCIATION. 

a  fourth  and  a  fifth  misapply  the  soil  in  some  other 
way.  The  three  hundred  families  lose  their  time 
and  money  in  barricading  themselves  against  each 
other,  and  in  law  suits  about  boundary  lines  and 
petty  thefts;  they  all  avoid  works  of  general  utility, 
which  might  be  of  advantage  to  disagreeable  neigh- 
bors, and  individual  interest  is  everywhere  brought 
in  conflict  with  public  good. 

The  civilized  world  talks  of  economy  and  system  : 
what  system  does  it  see  in  this  industrial  incoherence, 
this  anti-social  confusion  ?  How  has  it  happened, 
that  for  thirty  centuries,  it  has  not  been  discovered  that 
Association,  and  not  cultivation  carried  on  by  isolated 
households,  is  the  destiny  of  man,  and  that  so  long  as 
he  is  ignorant  of  the  theory  of  domestic  Association, 
he  has  not  attained  his  destiny  ! 

To  appreciate  this  principle  fully,  we  have  only  to 
reflect  a  moment  on  the  extent  of  knowledge,  which 
Agriculture  requires,  and  the  impossibility  on  the 
part  of  the  farmer  of  uniting  a  twentieth  part  of  the 
means  necessary  to  make  a  perfect  agriculturist.  To 
a  large  capital  he  should  add  the  knowledge  scattered 
among  a  hundred  scientific  and  practical  men,  and, 
even  then,  were  he  to  die  without  a  successor  of  equal 
talent,  what  he  had  done  would  go  to  decay  and  his 
domain  rapidly  decline. 

It  is  only  in  Association,  that  a  combination  of 
capital  and  talent,  as  above  supposed,  is  possible ; 
Association,  consequently,  is  the  only  system,  which 
the  Creator  could  have  calculated  upon;  for,  presum- 


ECONOMIES   OF    ASSOCIATION.  37 

ing  it  to  be  applied  to  communities  of  about  eighteen 
hundred  inhabitants,*  there  would  be  found  among 
such  a  number  of  persons  this  mass  of  knowledge, 
which  would  be  perpetuated  by  corporative  trans- 
mission. A  son  does  not  inherit  the  acquirements 
of  his  father,  but  among  a  community  of  eighteen 
hundred  persons,  there  would  be  found  those  apt  at 
acquiring  the  talent  and  knowledge  of  skilful  mem- 
bers, whom  at  some  later  period  they  would  be  called 
upon  to  replace.  The  more  we  discuss  the  question 
of  Association,  the  more  we  shall  be  convinced  that 
civilized  agriculture,  carried  on  by  separate  families 
with  conflicting  interests,  is  in  complete  opposition 
to  the  destiny  of  man,  and  that  the  great  discovery 
to  be  made  is  the  secret  of  associating  large  assem- 
blages. Small  masses  do  not  admit  of  a  perfect 
system  of  economies,  nor  is  it  possible  thus  to  unite 
the  various  kinds  of  knowledge  which  perfection  in 
each  branch  of  industry  requires. 

The  possibility  of  realizing  such  great  social 
ameliorations,  having  their  commencement  in  agri- 
culture, which  would  cause  neither  bloodshed  nor 


*  Eighteen  hundred  persons,  cultivating  a  domain  of  about 
five  thousand  seven  hundred  acres,  or  three  miles  square,  are 
the  largest  and  the  most  appropriate  number  for  forming  an 
Association  or  Phalanx.  If  it  were  larger,  it  would  fall  into 
confusion  ;  and  besides,  the  extent  of  the  domain  would  cause 
too  great  a  distance  between  the  Manor-House  and  the  extreme 
portions  of  the  territory.  We  shall  take  eighteen  hundred 
persons,  therefore,  as  the  best  adapted  number. 

Three  hundred  and  fifty,  or  four  hundred  persona  constitute 
the  lowest  number  wtth  which  a  small  Association  can  be  formed. 


38  ECONOMIES   OF    ASSOCIATION. 

revolutions,  should  have  stimulated  politicians  and 
philosophers :  but  to  excuse  their  apathy,  they  pretend, 
that  so  much  perfection  is  not  made  for  man,  that 
the  passions  are  insurmountable  obstacles,  and  that 
it  would  be  impossible  to  associate  three  or  four 
families  for  a  week,  without  differences  of  character 
and  taste,  and  without  the  breaking  out  of  overbear- 
ing pretentions  and  irremediable  discord. 

It  will  be  proved  that  in  this  new  order,  the  pas- 
sions and  all  inequalities  of  fortune  and  character, 
so  far  from  opposing  difficulties  to  Association,  form 
its  very  machinery,  since  all  contrasts  here  become 
useful :  thus  our  prejudices  present  to  us  as  obstacles, 
what  on  the  contrary  are  the  means  of  Association. 
As  a  proof  of  this  we  shall  see,  that  it  would  be  im- 
possible to  associate  a  hundred  families  of  equal 
fortune,  and  of  similar  tastes  and  characters :  the 
mechanism  of  Groups  and  Series  is  incompatible 
with  equality. 


' 


ECONOMIES  IX  GRANARIES,  CELLARS,  &C.  39 


CHAPTER  FOURTH. 

ECONOMIES     IN    GRANARIES,    CELLARS,    FUEL, 
TRANSPORTATION,    &C. 

WE  are  astonished,  as  we  before  observed,  when 
we  pass  a  few  moments  in  drawing  a  picture  of  the 
enormous  profits,  which  would  result  from  an  assem- 
blage of  three  or  four  hundred  families,  inhabiting 
one  vast  edifice,  in  which  they  would  find  suits  of 
roqms  of  various  prices,  covered  communications, 
tables  for  different  classes,  varied  functions,  in  short 
every  thing  that  could  abridge,  facilitate  and  give  a 
charm  to  industry. 

In  going  into  details,  we  will  first  examine  the 
advantages  of  Association  in  granaries  and  cellars. 
The  three  hundred  granaries  or  barns,  which  three 
hundred  farming  families  now  require,  would  be 
replaced  by  a  vast  granary,  divided  into  special 
compartments  for  each  kind  of  grain,  and  even  for 
each  variety.  All  advantages  of  dryness,  ventilation 
and  of  locality,  could  be  observed  and  attended  to — 
advantages  which  the  farmer  cannot  now  think  of- 
for  often  his  house  and  barns  are  badly  situated 


40  ECONOMIES  IN  GRANARIES,  CELLARS, 

for  the  preservation  of  his  produce.  A  community 
of  eighteen  hundred  persons  would  always  make 
choice  of  the  most  favorable  location  in  every  re- 
spect for  the  Manor-House  or  rural  Palace.  The 
expense  of  walls,  door,s,  frame-work,  machinery, 
precautions  against  fire,  insects,  &c.  of  this  vast 
granary,  would  not  cost  one  tenth  part  of  what  three 
hundred  barns,  at  best  but  defectively  constructed, 
now  do.  Ten  doors  and  windows  only  would  be 
necessary  there  where,  with  the  present  system,  three 
hundred  are  required,  and  every  thing  else  in  pro- 
portion. 

It  is  above  all  in  precautions  against  fire  and  other 
accidental  waste,  that  the  profits  become  colossaL 
All  measures  of  public  security  are  impracticable 
with  three  hundred  families,  some  being  too  poor 
to  take  necessary  precaution,  others  too  careless 
or  indifferent.  We  frequently  hear  of  a  whole  town 
having  been  consumed  by  the  imprudence  of  a  single 
family.  Precautions  against  insects,  rats,  &c.  become 
illusive  also,  because  there  is  no  joint  action  between 
these  families.  If  by  great  care  one  farmer  destroys 
the  rats  in  his  granaries,  he  is  soon  assailed  by  those 
of  the  neighboring  barns  and  fields,  that  have  not 
been  clieared  of  them,  for  the  want  of  a  system  of 
general  co-operation,  impossible  with  the  present 
diversity  of  interests 

Association  gives  rise  to  important  economies  in 
operations  which  are  now  deemed  productive :  for 
example,  three  hundred  farming  families  send  to 


FUEL,  TRANSPORTATION,  &C.  41 

market  not  once,  but  twenty  times  in  the  course  of 
the  year  :  if  a  few  chickens  or  pounds  of  butter  are 
to  be  sold,  a  day  is  lost  in  town ;  this  amounts,  for 
the  three  hundred  families,  to  an  aggregate  loss  of  six 
thousand  days  work,  without  including  the  expense 
of  wagons,  which  is  twenty  fold  that  of  Association. 
In  the  latter  order  all  these  products  would  be  sold 
in  large  quantities,  as  sales  and  purchases  would  take 
place  only  between  Associations  of  eighteen  hundred 
persons.  By  avoiding  the  complication  of  sales,  the 
waste  for  example  of  sending  three  hundred  persons 
to  market,  to  make  three  hundred  separate  negoti- 
ations, instead  of  a  single  one,  we  simplify  and  eco- 
nomize an  important  branch  of  operations. 

If  one  Phalanx  sells  five  thousand  bushels  of  wheat 
to  three  others,  the  care  of  milling  and  storing  does 
not  extend  to  three  hundred  families,  but  only  to  three. 
Thus,  after  having  saved  in  the  sale  of  the  produce, 
ninety-nine  hundredths  of  the  distributive  labor,  this 
economy  is  repeated  in  its  preparation  for  use.  It  is 
consequently  an  economy  of  ninety-nine  hundredths 
twice  repeated ;  and  how  many  will  take  place  of 
this  magnitude  ? 

It  is  to  be  remarked  that  the  economies  of  Asso- 
ciation are  almost  always  like  those  above,  of  a  com- 
pound nature,  w.hich,  to  the  saving  in  selling,  adds 
that  in  storing  and  preparation.  The  same  system 
is  applicable  to  liquids,  such  as  wines,  oils,  &c.  Three 
hundred  families  have  three  hundred  cellars,  in  the 
care  of  which,  ordinarily,  as  much  ignorance  as  want 


42 


ECONOMIES  Iff  GRANARIES,  CELLARS, 


of  skill,  is  to  be  found.  There  is  a  greater  loss  on 
liquids  than  on  grain,  for  the  care  of  the  former  is  a 
great  deal  more  hazardous,  and  requires  more  atten- 
tion and  knowledge. 

The  Palace,  or  Manor-House  of  the  Phalanx,  for 
its  wines,  oils  or  dairy,  would  have  one  vast  cellar. 
In  a  vineyard  district,  it  would  not  contain  at  the 
most  more  than  a  dozen  vats,  instead  of  three  hund- 
red. That  number  would  be  sufficient  to  class  the 
different  qualities  of  the  vintage,  even  supposing  the 
grapes  were  gathered  at  two  or  three  different  times, 
which  would  be  the  case  in  Association ;  but  now 
the  danger  of  theft  makes  it  necessary  to  gather  the 
green,  ripe  and  decayed  fruit  all  at  once.  As  to  casks, 
thirty  large  tuns  would  replace  the  thousand  barrels, 
which  the  three  hundred  families  now  use.  There 
would  be  consequently,  besides  the  economy  of  nine- 
tenths  on  the  edifice,  an  economy  of  nineteen  twen- 
tieths on  the  cooperage,  a  doubly  expensive  object  in 
civilization,  for  to  the  cost  of  this  complication  of 
casks  and  vessels,  is  to  be  added  the  difficulty  of 
keeping  them  in  a  proper  condition.  Immense  losses 
take  place  yearly  from  such  causes,  which  could  be 
easily  avoided  in  a  slate  of  things,  where  the  greatest 
attention  would  be  paid  to  details.* 

*  A  proper  care  of  wine,  for  example,  requires : 
1st.  Good  cellars,  situated  in  a  proper  locality,  with  a  rock 
foundation,  or  on  a  hill-side,  and  fronting  the  north.  Can  a 
single  family  think  of  fulfiling  these  condition  1  No,  not  even 
the  most  wealthy,  who  have  to  use  their  cellars  as  they  find 
them. 


FUEL,  TRANSPORTATION,  &C.  43 

No  economy  is  acknowledged  more  urgent  than 
that  of  fuel;  its  saving  is  enormous  in  Association. 
The  Palace  of  a  Phalanx  has  only  five  kitchens,  in- 
stead of  three  hundred  which  the  present  system 
requires : 

One  for  extra  tables ; 

Three  for  tables  of  the  1st.  2d.  and  3d.  class  of 
prices ; 

One  for  preparations  for  animals. 

The  whole  operation  can  be  carried  on  by  three 
large  fires,  which,  compared  with  the  three  hundred 
kitchen  fires  of  three  hundred  households,  would  yield 
an  economy  on  fuel  of  nine-tenths.  The  economy 
would  be  equally  great  in  parlour  and  other  fires. 
Besides  the  cold  would  not  be  felt  in  the  interior 
of  the  Palace;  there  would  exist  throughout  the 
building,  covered  galleries  or  halls  which  would 
communicate  with  all  its  parts,  and  which  could  be 
comfortably  warmed:  its  inhabitants  consequently 
could  go  to  the  manufactories,  bazarrs  and  dining- 
halls,  to  parties  and  balls  without  the  necessity  of 
cloaks  or  furs,  and  without  the  risk  of  catching  colds 


2d.  Daily  airing  of  the  cellars  and  casks.  Such  precautions 
cannot  now  be  taken,  a  single  family  has  not  the  time  or  means 
of  attending  to  these  details:  it  is  only  a  serie  of  groups  devo- 
ted to  this  branch  of  industry  that  could  do  it 

3d.  Mixture  of  weak  wines  with  stronger  qualities,  which 
would  give  them  body.  A  single  individual  cannot  think  of 
obtaining  the  stronger  wines  of  Spain,  Calabria  or  Cypress. 
A  Phalanx,  however,  doing  business  for  eighteen  hundred 
persons,  is  in  correspondence  with  every  country,  and  can 
easily  obtain  any  article  it  wishea  and  of  any  kind  and  quality. 


44  ECONOMIES  IN  GRANARIES,  CELLARS, 

and  catarrhs.    These  covered  communications  would 
extend  also  to  the  stables. 

We  have  passed  in  review  a  few  of  the  economies 
of  Association  :  their  examination  shows  an  average 
saving  of  from  three-fourths  to  nine-tenths,  and  often 
of  ninety  nine-hundredths.  We  see  this  result  in 
marketing,  in  the  purchase  and  sale  of  goods,  and 
even  in  small  matters  which  are  now  neglected,  but 
which  become  of  importance  when  an  economy  of 
ninety-nine  hundredths  takes  place,  or  even  forty- 
nine-fiftieths  as  in  the  case  of  milkmen.  One  wagon 
would,  as  observed,  replace  a  hundred  now  engaged 
in  the  same  operation,  which  would  be  a  saving  of 
about  forty-nine  fiftieths.  The  economy  is  double,  if 
the  man  distributes  his  milk  among  three  or  four 
large  kitchens,  and  returns  in  half  the  time  which 
each  one  of  the  hundred  requires.  The  economies 
above  mentioned  are  all  relative  to  branches  of  labor 
which  are  known  and  daily  practised.  We  could 
enumerate  a  great  many  others  which  might  take 
place  in  operations  which  could  be  avoided  or  render- 
ed unnecessary :  we  will  call  them  negative  econ- 
omies, in  opposition  to  the  preceding  which,  are 
positive  economies,  or  labor  abridged,  but  without 
being  suppressed. 

A  branch  of  negative  profits,  which  is  immense, 
and  which  can  be  rendered  unnecessary  in  Association, 
is  precautions  against  larcenies. 

The  risk  of  thefts  forces  three  hundred  families, 
or  at  least  one'hundred  of  the  richest,  who  can  afford 


FUEL,  TRANSPORTATION,  &C.  45 

it,  to  an  unproductive  expense  of  one  hundred  walls, 
fences,  ditches,  watch-dogs,  guards,  traps  or  other 
means  of  defence  against  thieves.  All  these  useless 
'  and  expensive  precautions  would  be  entirely  done 
away  with  in  Association  which  would  effectually 
prevent  larceny.  We  shall  see,  that  in  the  social 
relations  of  the  combined  order,  a  rogue  could  make 
no  use  of  stolen  property  (except  money).  Besides,  a 
population  living  at  their  ease,  and  imbued  with 
honorable  feelings,  would  not  think  of  thefts,  or  of 
ever  forming  any  projects  of  the  kind. 

The  loss,  which  takes  place  from  the  stealing  of 
fruit  alone,  is  very  great.  We  see  the  markets  in 
our  large  towns  stored  with  green  and  unhealthy 
fruit.  If  you  reproach  this  premature  gathering,  this 
vegetable  waste,  you  are  answered;  the Jruit  would 
be  stolen  if  it  were  left  to  ripen.  The  danger  of  thefts 
is  a  very  great  obstacle  to  the  raising  of  good  fruit. 
If  its  gathering  does  not  take  place  at  three  different 
times,  to  avoid  the  mixture  of  green,  ripe,  and  decayed, 
it  is  difficult  and  even  impossible  to  preserve  it  for 
any  length  of  time.  This,  with  other  causes,  such  as 
the  want  of  proper  storage  and  knowledge,  reduces  to 
a  twentieth  part,  the  quantity  of  fruit  reserved  for  use. 

A  loss  more  ruinous  still,  in  a  negative  sense,  is 
the  disgust  and  difficulty  connected  with  the  rearing 
of  fruit  trees.  We  do  not  hesitate  to  say,  that  twenty 
times  as  many  would  be  cultivated,  if  the  difficulties 
connected  with  their  rearing  in  civilization,  could  be 
avoided,  and  if  the  cultivator  had: 


46  ECONOMIES  IN  GRANARIES,  CELLARS, 

1st.  The  guarantee  of  not  being  robbed. 

2d.    The  certainty  of  not  being  deceived  in  the 

purchase  of  plants  and  trees. 
3d.   The  assurance  of  being  always   aided   and 
assisted  by  intelligent  and  faithful  persons,  in 
the  care  of  the  trees  and  the  preservation  of 
the  fruit. 

4th.  The  advantage  of  requisite  means  for  carry- 
ing on  successfully  this  attractive  branch  of 
agriculture,"  such   as  :fine  qualities  of  plants 
and  trees,  necessary  implements,  &c.  Lastly, 
to  insure  the  preservation  of  vast  quantities 
of  fruit,  the  low  price  of  sugar,  as  all  surplus 
and  second  qualities  would  be  preserved. 
In  a  social  order  in  which  all  these  advantages 
could  be  united,  nine  tenths  of  mankind  would  make 
a  noble  recreation  of  the  cultivation  of  fruit  trees, 
•which,  of  all  branches  of  agriculture,  is  the  most 
attractive  for  the  different  sexes  and  ages;    each 
having  its  favorite  and  prefered  fruit,  currants  for 
children,  oranges  for  women,  &c. 

How  can  we  excite  a  love  for  this  branch  of  agri- 
culture, when  we  meet  with  every  obstacle  opposed 
to  the  conditions  above  mentioned !  For  in  the  present 
system  we  are  certain : 

1st.  Of  being  robbed,  in  spite  of  walls  and  fences. 

by  servants,  children  and  marauders. 
2d.    Of  being  deceived  in  the  purchase  of  seed, 
plants  and  grafts,  notwithstanding  the  offer  of 
paying  well  for  good  species  and  varieties. 


FUEL,  TRANSPORTATION,  &C.  47 

3d.  Of  being  aided  by  mercenary  hands,  careless, 
indifferent,  and  without  skill ;  instead  of  oblig- 
ing and  intelligent  friends. 

4th.  Of  being  unable  to  obtain  the  right  kinds  of 
soil,  location,  necessary  implements  and  edi- 
fices, such  as  hot-houses,  &c.    And,  lastly,  the 
high  price  of  sugar,  which  prevents  extensive 
preparations  of  preserves,  jellies,  &c. 
This  multiplicity  of  obstacles  produces  a  negative 
loss,  resulting  from  the  non-cultivation  of  fruit  trees, 
equal  to  twenty  times  the  quantity  at  present  pro- 
duced; and  of  this  small  quantity,  two-thirds  are  now 
lost,  owing  to  badness  of  quality,  ignorance  of  cultiva- 
tion, and  necessity  of  picking  the  fruit,  while  it  is 
green  and  unhealthy. 


48  EFFECTIVE,    RELATIVE,    POSITIVE 


CHAPTER  FIFTH. 

EFFECTIVE,     RELATIVE,     POSITIVE     AND     NEGATIVE 
ECONOMIES. 

To  understand  and  appreciate  more  clearly  the 
profits  of  Association,  we  will  divide  them  into 
Effective  and  Relative ;  Positive  and  Negative ;  it 
will  be  necessary  to  bear  these  distinctions  in  mind, 
as  we  shall  often  refer  to  them. 

We  will  first  examine  the  branch  of  negative  profits, 
which  consists  in  producing,  by  doing  nothing,  more 
than  a  civilizee  who,  often  with  great  labor,  does 
less  than  nothing.  We  will  choose  walls  and  fences 
as  an  example.  If  thieving  did  not  exist  ;  if  flocks 
were  guarded  by  a  few  dogs,  as  they  would  be  in 
Association,  so  that  a  small  hedge  or  furrow  would 
answer  all  purposes,  fences  and  walls  could  be  done 
away  with,  and  the  expense  of  their  construction 
and  repairs  saved.  Thus,  a  now  expensive  wall  or 
fence  is  equivalent  to  nothing,  as  to  present  product ; 
and  less  than  nothing,  as  to  future  product,  for  it  will 
cost  repairs.  A  large  portion  of  the  greatest  works 


AND    NEGATIVE    ECONOMIES.  49 

of  civilization,  such  as  fortifications  and  navies,  pro- 
duce either  nothing,  or  less  tfian  nothing,  considered 
apart  from  their  destructive  action.  Association  will 
give  such  a  preponderance  to  the  interests  of  produc- 
tion, that  peace  will  be  maintained ;  nations  will  not 
then  require  fortifications,  arsenals,  and  idle,  unpro- 
ductive armies.  Such  a  peace  would  produce  a  ne- 
gative profit  by  saving  the  damages  of  war,andt  hose 
constructions,  which  it  now  renders  necessary. 

Negative  profit,  or  the  economy  of  a  labor  in  itself 
unproductive,  is  easy  to  distinguish  from  positive 
profit,  which  arises  from  an  increased  cultivation  in 
any  branch  of  agriculture  —  of  fruit  for  example, 
which  would  yield  twenty-fold  the  present  product, 
if  the  conditions  above  mentioned  were  carried  into 
effect.  Negative  profit,  being  the  least  understood  in 
the  present  order,  we  will  make  use  of  an  example 
or  two,  to  illustrate  it. 

1st.  River  Fish:  this  source  of  product  is  the  more 
precious  as  it  requires  no  care,  and  as  its  rapid  mul- 
tiplication is  not  prejudicial  to  the  crops,  like  that  of 
game.  How  great  would  be  the  abundance  of  fish,  if 
there  were  a  general  understanding  to  suspend  fishing 
at  certain  periods,  and  leave  a  sufficient  quantity  in 
each  stream  for  re-production !  Such  concert  of  action 
is  one  of  the  results  of  Association.  Persons,  expert 
in  the  matter  say,  that  upon  an  average  of  years, 
twenty  times  as  many  fish  would  be  taken  in  all 
small  streams,  if  people  would  agree  to  fish  only  at 
proper  seasons,  so  as  not  to  exhaust  the  stock ,  and 

4 


50  EFFECTIVE,    RELATIVE,    POSITIVE 

take   but  a  quarter  of  the  pains  in  destroying  otters 
and  muskrats,  which  they  now  do  in  despoiling  the 
streams.     Such  would  be  the  policy  of  Association ; 
which,  to  the  product  of  rivers  would  add  that  of  re- 
servoirs, with  currents  for  preserving  distinct  species. 
Naturalists  admire  the  munificence  of  nature  in 
sending  us  each  year  those  vast  shoals  of  herring ; 
thanks  to  the  barrier  of  polar  ices,  which  prevent  the 
fisheries  during  the  time  of   multiplication.      Sup- 
pose that  barrier  did  not  exist,  that  the  polar  seas 
were  navigable,  and  the  fisheries  could  be  'carried  on 
constantly  by  our  vessels,  it-is  certain  that  the  avi- 
dity and  jealousy  of  those    engaged  in  the  trade, 
would  soon  deprive  the  north  of  this  great  source  of 
support.    Hardly  a  twentieth  part  of  the  herring,  now 
caught,  would  be  taken,  if  it  were  not  for  their  peace- 
able increase  under  the  polar  ices,  which  are  a  gua- 
rantee of  a  twenty-fold  product. 

Unity  of  action  in  Association  would  guarantee  us 
a  like  increase  in  river  fish,  of  which  we  are  compa- 
ratively deprived,  when  we  consider  the  immense 
amount  which  could  be  raised  in  streams  and  reser- 
voirs. The  sums  total  of  all  these  negative  riches  will 
yield  a  ten-fold  effective  product  in  all  those  branches 
of  industry,  which  are  failures  int  he  present  order — 
as  in  the  above  example  offish,  of  which  Association 
will  produce  an  enomous  quantity — negatively, \>y  at- 
tention to,  and  care  of  streams;  and  positively,  by  keep- 
ing up  lateral  reservoirs,  and  in  destroying  musk- 


AND    NEGATIVE    ECONOMIES.  51 

rats  and  other  animals,  which  often  destroy  more 
fish  than  man  consumes. 

2d.  Game :  an  ornament  to  the  fields,  a  source 
of  riches  for  man,  and  a  means  of  destroying  perni- 
cious insects.  If  it  be  necessary  to  prevent  the  ex- 
cessive multiplication  of  some  kinds,  care  should  also 
be  taken  to  prevent  their  entire  destruction.  In  spe- 
culating upon  an  order  of  thiags  in  which  agricultural 
labour  will  be  rendered  more  attractive  than  hunting, 
the  latter  can  be  reduced  to  its  just  proportion,  and, 
as  a  consequence,  we  shall  obtain  the  following  re- 
sults: 

Negative  profit,  or  ten-fold  increase  of  game,  with- 
out any  care. 

Positive  profit,  or  destruction  of  insects,  which  it 
is  not  important  to  estimate,  as  Association  would 
soon  sufficiently  reduce  their  numbers. 

All  these  calculations  are  made  with  reference  to 
the  employment  of  the  Groups  and  Series,  which 
would  regulate  all  industrial  functions  or  branches 
of  labor — such  as  hunting,  fishing,  and  others  ;  and  so 
limit  their  developments  as  tb  coincide  with  general 
utility. 

Those,  who  have  devoted  their  attention  to  the 
Economies  of  Association  without  a  knowledge  of  the 
mechanism  of  the  Groups  and  Series,  could  not  have 
calculated  upon  an  equilibrium  of  functions  and 
wants;  but,  if  all  these  advantages  were  not  foreseen, 
the  principle,  such  as  those  of  combined  cellars  and 
granaries,  might  have  been  felt  and  understood. 


52  EFFECTIVE,   RELATIVE,   POSITIVE 

Of  all  the  sources  of  profit,  which  Association  of- 
fers, none  is  more  collosal  than  that  of  a  multiplica- 
tion of  means  which  do  not  belong  to  the  same  class, 
such  as  quality,  quantity,  and  management. 

We  will  prove  this  by  taking,  as  an  example,  the 
product  of  the  vine,  which  is  much  more  injured  than 
wheat  by  the  derangement  of  climate  and  defective 
overseeing. 

If  the  combination  of  circumstances,  of  which  we 
have  already  spoken,  such  as  good  cellars,  casks, 
and  proper  management,  would  yield  a  five-fold  pro- 
fit, and  if  to  this  increase  we  add  that  of  quality  and 
quantity,  supposing  each  doubled  or  increased  the 
product  two-fold,  we  shall  have  a  twenty-fold  profit 
by  multiplying  them  into  each  other,  as  follows: 
Increase  by  proper  management  5 

„        „        „       Quality  2 


Combined  product  of  management  or  quality  10 
Increase  of  quantity  2 


20 

Quality :  The  temperature  of  our  climates  are  so 
deranged,  so  variable,  so  full  of  excesses  that  it  ex- 
hausts vegetation,  instead  of  assisting  it.  Our  sum- 
mers are  a  succession  of  every  excess,  that  is  inju- 
rious to  the  vegetable  kingdom,  and  there  is  hardly 
one  year  out  of  three  favorable  to  the  development 
of  fruit.  It  is  even  hoping  too  much  to  expect  in  vine 
growing  countries,  out  of  every  three  years,  one  vin- 
tage of  superior  quality.  If  instead  of  these  excesses 


AND    NEGATIVE    ECONOMIES.  53 

of  temperature  had  we  a  mild  and  regular  climate, 
we  could  calculate  upon  a  doubly  good  quality,  and 
expect  three  favorable  years  out  of  four.  And  if  we 
suppose  only  two  out  of  three,  the  profit  of  quality 
would  be  increased  two-fold.  In  combining  this  with 
proper  management,  estimated  at  five,  we  have  a 
ten-fold  increase. 

Quantity:  The  same  circumstances  apply  here 
as  in  the  above  calculations  on  quality.  Derange- 
ment of  climate,  frosts,  droughts  and  worms,  reduce 
the  product  immensely.  If  we  suppose  an  increase 
of  but  one-half  over  the  present  product,  we  have  a 
twenty-fold  gain,  by  combining  it  with  quality  and 
management,  as  above  shown. 

True  political  policy  should  consist  in  developing 
these  sources  of  real  riches,  the  only  means  of  aug- 
menting the  welfare  of  all  classes,  both  rich  and  poor. 
But  politicians  are  absorbed  in  political  quarrels,  and 
have  no  time  to  devote  to  those  problems,  which  are 
entirely  disconnected  from  political  intrigues.  They 
promise  us,  it  is  true,  national  riches  and  general 
happiness ;  but  our  cities,  filled  with  indigence,  belie 
alike  those  promises  and  the  theories  on  which  they 
are  grounded. 

The  present  order  of  society  does  not  even  tend  to 
economy ;  unproductive  functions  are  increasing 
daily,  and  the  mass  of  parasitic  agents  may  be  esti- 
mated at  two-thirds  of  the  population — all  labor  being 
relatively  unproductive,  which  couid  be  economized 
in  Association.  We  shall  hereafter  give  a  list  of  these 


54  EFFECTIVE,    RELATIVE,   POSITIVE 

unproductive  classes.  We  will  conclude  these  obser- 
vations by  recapitulating  briefly  the  various  kinds  of 
riches,  Positive,  Negative  and  Relative,  which  com- 
pose the  Effective  riches  of  Association. 

1st.  Positive  riches  consist  of  the  product  ob- 
tained by  active  industry.  We  have  in  the  present 
order  a  very  considerable  quantity  of  positive  riches, 
from  which  we  might  draw  a  double  or  treble  profit 
— such  as  forests,  which  require  to  be  cleared  of  the 
superabundance  of  trees  that  choke  their  growth.  In 
certain  other  branches,  we  have  too  much  positive 
wealth.  Compared  with  the  quantity  of  grain  and 
wine  produced,  we  have  a  great  many  more  barns 
and  casks  than  are  necessary ;  we  could  reduce  the 
number  two-thirds,  if  vast  granaries  and  large  tuns 
and  vats  only  were  used.  Thus  effective  riches  often 
consist  in  a  diminution  of  the  positive  product. 

2d.  Negative  riches  consist  in  undeveloped  re- 
sources, which  might  often  yield  a  ten-fold  product 
without  labor,  as  in  the  example  of  river  fish,  which 
is  negative  product  in  streams  and  lakes,  and  positive 
product  in  artificial  reservoirs  and  basins.  One  of 
the  most  considerable  branches  of  negative  profit 
will  be  that  of  works  rendered  unnecessary;  such  as 
walls,  fortifications,  arsenals  and  navies. 

3d.  Relative  riches  consist  in  a  judicious  ap- 
plication of  means  without  any  change.  If  an  article, 
which  costs  a  dollar  could  be  purchased  for  ten  cents, 
there  would  be  a  ten-fold  relative  gain.  The  use  and 
purposes  of  a  granary  may  not  be  changed ;  but  if  in 


AND    NEGATIVE    ECONOMIES.  55 

its  construction,  rats,  weavel ,  dampness,  and  the 
danger  of  fire  and  frosts  can  be  guarded  against, 
how  considerable  an  augmentation  of  relative  pro- 
duct would  ensue! 

In  these  remarks  on  the  sources  of  riches,  we  have 
omitted  the  principal  one,  which  is  the  health  of  man 
and  animals,  the  perfection  and  longevity  of  races, 
particularly  of  man  and  the  horse — so  expensive,  to 
mature,  and  which  Politics  sacrifices  by  legions  in 
war,  as  if  they  were  of  no  more  value  than  flies. 

If  Association  raise  every  product  to  its  highest 
degree  of  perfection,  man  should  attain  at  least  to  a 
treble  increase  in  strength,  longevity  and  intelligence.* 
It  is  easier  to  conceive  the  eventual  amelioration  of 
races  of  animals,  the  horse  for  example.  When  we 
see  him  prosper  in  Arabia,  in  what  country  would 
he  not  attain  perfection,  with  due  care  and  attention  ? 
Association  will  discover  the  means  of  taming  se- 
veral species  of  animals,  the  beaver  and  zebra,  for 
example ;  the  latter  will  be  domesticated  by  means 
which  cannot  be  put  in  practice  in  our  present  socie- 
ties; it  is  an  animal  which  cannot  be  broken-in  by 
violence,  as  the  horse  now  is.  The  Zebra  and  Quagga, 

*  The  average  length  of  the  life  of  man,  is  about  thirty 
years  ;  such  a  vast  amount  of  premature  deaths,  as  we  now  rind 
in  society,  must  be  a  violation  of  the  law  of  nature.  If  we  re- 
flect upon  the  infinite  number  of  advantages  which  each  in- 
dividual would  enjoy  in  Association,  from  infancy  to  age ;  such 
as  good  food,  raiment  and  dwellings,  varied  occupations 
through  the  day  to  prevent  prolonged  and  excessive  labor, 
guarantee  against  exposure  of  all  kinds,  joined  to  a  system 
of  preventive  medicine,  and  various  other  means,  all  will  be 
convinced,  that  the  above  estimate  is  not  at  all  exaggerated. 


56  EFFECTIVE,   RELATIVE,    POSITIVE 

two  magnificent  animals,  superior  to  the  horse  in  ve- 
locity, equal  to  the  ass  in  endurance,  are  a  con- 
quest impossible  in  the  civilized  order.  If  we  knew 
the  system  of  taming  them,  we  could  not  make  use 
of  it,  because  nothing  at  present  in  our  domestic  or- 
der is  adapted  to  their  instincts. 

Without  anticipating  these  brilliant  results,  the  in- 
crease of  riches  alone,  which  Association  promises, 
should  have  been  sufficient  to  stimulate  a  mercantile 
age,  whose  only  desire  is  wealth,  to  search  out  its 
mechanism.  Some  modern  authors  have  perceived 
the  colossal  product  which  Association  would  yield; 
but  its  dazzling  results  have  deterred  them  from  mak- 
ing it  an  object  of  investigation;  they  have  declared 
that  it  was  too  magnificent;  that  so  much  perfection 
was  not  made  for  man.  Thus  Association  has  been  for 
our  minds,  what  the  brightness  of  the  sun,  which  we 
cannot  look  upon,  is  for  our  eyes.  But  because  the 
sun  fatigues  our  weak  sight,  does  it  follow  that  that 
luminary  does  not  exist  ?  Thus  have  reasoned  those 
who  pretend  that  Association  is  impossible,  because 
it  presents  results  too  immense  for  their  narrow  ima- 
ginations. 

But  the  passions  !  inequalities,  conflicts  of  inter- 
ests, antipathies  of  character;  how  overcome  them? 

Such  are  the  objections  constantly  raised  by  those 
who  are  too  indifferent,  or  have  not  the  energy  to 
examine  a  problem,  which  offers  any  difficulties. 

The  passions,  which  are  now  believed  the  enemies 
of  concord,  only  tend  to  that  unity,  to  which  they  are 


AND     NEGATIVE  ECONOMIES.  57 

deemed  to  be  directly  opposed.  Developed  otherwise 
than  according  to  their  natural  law,  the  Serie  of  emu- 
lative Groups,  they  appear,  it  is  true,  like  tigers  let 
loose,  and  are  incomprehensible  enigmas.  This  has 
induced  philosophers  and  moralists  to  think,  that  they 
should  be  repressed,  an  opinion  doubly  absurd,  in  as 
much  as  we  cannot  repress  them  otherwise  than  by 
violence  or  an  absorbing  substitution,  the  latter  of  which 
is  not  repression.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  passions,  or 
those  of  their  developments  which  are  incident  to  civi- 
lization could  be  effectually  repressed,  this  social  order 
would  decline  rapidly  and  retrograde  to  a  nomadic 
or  savage  state,  in  which  the  passions  would  take 
other  developments,  and  be  fully  as  pernicious  as 
they  are  at  present  with  us.  The  virtues  of  shep- 
herds are  as  doubtful  as  those  of  their  apologists,  and 
our  authors,  in  supposing  virtues  among  an  imaginary 
people,  only  prove  the  impossibility  of  introducing 
them  into  civilization. 


58  COMPOUND    ECONOMIES    OF    ASSOCIATION. 


CHAPTER   SIXTH. 

COMPOUND    ECONOMIES   OF    ASSOCIATION.      NON-PRODUCING 
CLASSES    OF    CIVILIZATION. 

We  will  terminate  these  preliminary  observations 
upon  the  economies  of  Association,  by  correcting  an 
error,  which  misleads  the  world  in  all  its  specula- 
tions of  interest,  and  which  prevents  a  just  apprecia- 
tion of  the  effects  of  Association. 

This  error  is  the  mania  for  simple  ameliorations, 
which  are  of  no  value  in  a  general  point  of  view. 
One  district  may  perfect  a  branch  of  cultivation,  or 
introduce  some  amelioration,  which  is  thought  an 
achievement ;  in  the  mean  time,  however,  the  increas- 
ing derangement  of  climate,  or  some  other  evil,  will 
outweigh  ten  times  the  little  good  it  has  produced. 

We  will  first  examine  this  error  in  the  production 
of  riches  in  general;  we  will  then  descend  to  details, 
to  their  source,  which  is  the  day's  labor  of  the  pro- 
ducer. 

Two  principles  constitute  riches : 

Internal,  or  health  proportional  to  ages  ; 
External,  or  fortune  proportional  to  classes. 


NOW-PRODUCING   CLASSES    OF   CIVILIZATION.  59 

Fortune  guarantees  us  the  enjoyments  of  life ,  and 
with  health  or  internal  riches,  a  complete  develop- 
ment of  the  sensual  faculties. 

A  system  of  compound  economy  should  speculate 
upon  the  concurrence  of  the  two  riches,  health  and 
fortune.  It  falls  into  simplism,  if  it  organize  a  sys- 
tem, in  which  they  are  not  united  and  do  not  lend 
each  other  reciprocal  aid. 

This  is  a  vice  of  civilization :  the  wealthy  classes 
have  less  corporeal  vigor  than  the  laboring  ones, 
who,  poorly  rewarded  with  external  riches  or  for- 
tune, obtain  a  greater  degree  of  internal  riches  or 
health ;  we  do  not  find  the  gout  in  the  cabins  of  the 
poor ;  we  find  it  often  in  the  luxurious  dwellings  of 
the  rich. 

The  civilized  order  establishes  a  conflict  of  the 
two  riches,  a  scission  between  them;  for  internal 
riches,  or  health  proportional  to  ages,  is  in  a  diverg- 
ing ratio  with  the  external,  or  fortune  proportional  to 
classes.  The  wealthy  are  less  robust  than  the  poor, 
which,  in  a  true  social  point  of  view,  is  a  monstrous 
duplicity  of  action.  The  two  riches  should,  accord- 
ing to  the  law  of  unity,  be  convergent ;  each  should 
sustain  and  lead  to  the  other.  What  is  more  vicious 
than  the  assemblage  of  two  elements  which  thwart 
and  cross  each  other? 

Such  is  with  us  the  action  of  these  two  riches 
which  are  always  in  conflict ;  external  riches  lead  to 
excesses,  which  undermine  the  health,  or  internal 
riches;  and  internal  riches  or  vigor  lead  to  ex- 


60  COMPOUND    ECONOMIES   OF    ASSOCIATION. 

cesses  of  pleasure,  which  are  the  ruin  of  fortune. 
They  destroy  each  other  reciprocally  ;  and  how  dare 
our  sages  talk  of  unity  of  action  and  economy  of 
means,  when  duplicity  reigns  in  these  two  primor- 
dial branches  ?  Can  they  deny,  that  there  is  a  dis- 
cordant and  simple  action  in  the  present  order  of 
things,  where  riches  are  separated  from  functions, 
which  procure  health,  and  where  health  is  lost  in 
pleasures,  which  are  procured  by  riches  ?  Gan  they 
deny,  that  happiness  and  wisdom  would  consist  in  a 
system,  which  combined  riches  and  health,  and  which 
lead  to  both  at  once?  Such  would  be  the  effect  of 
Association. 

Our  prejudices  have  blinded  us  to  the  present  dis- 
order ;  it  has  been  thought,  that  Providence  wished 
to  divide  its  favors,  and  give  to  the  laborer  and  the 
savage  strength  and  vigor,  in  compensation  for  their 
privations.  This  sophism  presents  the  idea  of  an 
equitable  balance,  but  it  is  not  the  less  erroneous ; 
it  is  not  thus,  that  the  Divinity  distributes  justice. 
He  wishes  nothing  simple  in  the  destiny  of  man,  and 
he  does  not  make  equilibrium  consist  in  a  divergency, 
but  in  a  convergency  of  contrasted  elements. 

Such  is  the  effect  of  the  Series,  in  which  the  rich 
obtain  an  equal  degree  of  vigor  with  the  poor.  The 
former  in  fact  will  have  in  Association  the  guaran- 
tees of  vitality  in  greater  abundance  than  the  latter^ 
because  their  career,  more  replete  with  attraction, 
is  more  active,  varied  and  apt  to  prevent  excesses. 

Thus  is  established  the  concurrence  of  vigor  with 


NON-PRODUCIIfG   CLASSES  OF   CIVILIZATION.  61 

wealth,  a  concurrence  without  which,  there  is  no 
unity  of  action  between  these  two  primary  branches 
of  human  happiness,  internal  and  external  riches. 

Let  us  point  out  clearly  this  radical  error  of  our 
social  guides,  all  falsely  bent  upon  speculating  on 
simple,  instead  of  compound  results. 

Politicians  on  riches,  neglecting  health; 
Moralists  on  health,  neglecting  riches. 
The  destiny  of  the  human  race  being  compound,  if 
the  mass  do  not  attain  the  two  riches  combinedly; 
they  draw  upon  themselves  a  compound  poverty ; 
(privation  of  fortune  and  vigor).    This  is  what  takes 
place  in  the  present  state,  in  which  we  find  a  decline 
Of  the  RICH,  into  relative  poverty ; 

into  comparative  and  real  debility. 
Of  the  POOR,  into  real  poverty  ; 

into  relative  and  constrained  debility,  * 
Such  are  the  constant  results  of  our  incoherent 

*  The  debility  of  the  poor  is  the  result  of  their  position ; 
which  forces  them,  in  order  to  avoid  want,  to  sacrifice  their 
health  in  excessive  and  prolonged  labor  in  insalubrious  work- 
shops ;  which  wears  the  constitution  out  early,  and  exposes 
them  to  fevers  and  epidemics,  without  the  means  often  of  ob- 
taining requisite  medical  treatment.  They  are  consequently 
exposed  to  a  relative  and  constrained  debility  ;  and  nothing  is 
more  false  than  the  imaginary  equilibrium  which  allots  health 
to  the  poor  as  a  compensation  for  their  poverty.  They  have 
the  principle  of  health  (bodily  exercise);  but  they  are  forced 
to  sacrifice  it,  and  expose  themselves  to  disease  to  escape 
want.  Civilized  minds,  instinctively  inclined  to  sophism,  like 
to  dwell  on  illusive  compensations  like  those  above  men- 
tioned. The  truth  is,  that  man  is  a  being  whofe  destiny  ia 
compound ;  he  must  either  attain  a  double  happiness,  (health 
and  fortune)  in  an  order  of  things,  designed  for  him  by  the  Di- 
vinity ;  or  a  compound  misery  (poverty  and  debility)  in  our 


62  COMPOUND    ECONOMIES   OF    ASSOCIATION. 

social  order.  The  civilizee  is  less  robust  than  the 
savage :  city  populations  less  than  those  of  the  coun- 
try ;  in  short,  the  civilized  order  causes  a  complete 
divergency  of  the  two  riches,  instead  of  their  conver- 
gency  and  combined  action. 

Having  defined  the  error  in  general  lerms,  and 
analized  the  conflict  and  simple  action  existing  be- 
tween the  two  riches ;  let  us  now  attack  this  vice  in 
another  department,  let  us  descend  to  details, — to 
the  day's  labor.  We  will  distinguish  its  value  or 
its  productive  power  into  multipled  degrees,  as  we 
have  done  before,  and  prove  the  error  of  our  politi- 
cal-economists, who  only  speculate  upon  the  simple 
day's  work  or  apathetic  industry,  reduced  to  the 
lowest  degree  of  product,  and  to  the  least  possible 
activity. 

How  do  our  laborers  work  ?  They  only  endeavor 
to  evade  or  slight  their  tasks;  trifling  away  their 
time,  if  their  employer  is  absent,  doubling  their  work, 
if  overseen  without  intermission. 

Let  us  proceed  to  analize  the  circumstances,  which 
diminish  the  product  of  the  day's  work  of  the  hired 
laborer.  We  will  first  estimate  the  loss,  which  at 
present  arises  from  indifference  and  slackness,  and 
then  the  value  of  the  stimulants,  which  Association 
would  put  in  play. 

subversive  societies.  The  relative  poverty  of  the  rich  is  easily 
understood;  with  all  their  wealth,  they  are  deprived  of  an  in- 
finite variety  of  things  absolutely  necessary  to  their  happiness, 
and,  in  the  midst  of  their  treasures,  we  see  them  dying  with 
ennui. 


NON-PRODUCING    CLASSES   OP    CIVILIZATION.  63 

INCREASE    OF    THE    FIRST    POWER. 

Spirit  of  property  and  probity  in  all  relations. 

The  spirit  of  probity  is  one  of  the  strongest  stimu- 
lants, which  we  know  of,  to  excite  civilizees ;  we  may 
without  exaggeration  expect  from  the  labor  of  a  pro- 
prietor a  product  double  that  of  a  paid  or  servile 
workman.  We  see  daily  proofs  of  it ;  men  who  were 
slow  and  careless,  while  working  for  wages,  become 
prodigies  of  dilligence  as  soon  as  they  commence 
operating  on  their  own  account. 

The  first  problem  of  political  economy  conse- 
quently should  be  to  endeavor  to  transform  all  the 
hired  classes  into  co-interested  proprietors,  having  an 
interest  in  the  capital.  This  would  have  doubled  the 
value  of  their  paid  day's  labor,  added  to  the  ad- 
vantages of  dispatch.  'y« 
The  laboring  classes ,  who  work  for  a  salary, 
compose  three-quarters  of  the  working  population 
(taking  the  average  of  countries).  How  can  we 
double  the  product  of  the  day's  labor  of  the  other 
quarter  composed  of  proprietors  ? 

Omitting  minor  means,  such  as  exemption  from 
supervision,  the  active  co-operation  of  masters  and 
clerks  in  branches  of  industry,  which  they  now  mere- 
ly oversee,  we  will  take  the  most  powerful  lever 
or  stimulant,  that  of  probity,  which  reigns  in  all  the 
relations  of  Association.  In  agriculture  and  manu- 
facturs  the  guarantee  of  the  probity  and  faithfulness 
of  agents,  would  induce  capitalists  to  undertake  an 


64  COMPOUND   ECONOMIES   OF   ASSOCIATION. 

infinite  variety  of  operations,  which  they  cannot  now 
think  even  of  attempting. 

We  observed  in  speaking  of  fruit  orchards,  that 
twenty-times  as  many  fruit  trees  would  be  cultivated, 
if  those  engaged  in  the  pursuit  were  certain  of  not  be- 
ing deceived  in  the  quality  of  grafts  and  plants,  not 
obliged  to  gather  the  fruit  at  once,  and  before  ma- 
turity, from  fear  of  thefts;  and  if  they  had,  moreover, 
the  guarantee  of  capital  at  non-usurious  interest,  as 
they  would  in  Association,  when  it  will  not  all  be  ab- 
sorbed in  speculating  and  stock-jobbing. 

These  two  incentives,  property  and  probity,  will 
be  alone  more  than  sufficient  to  double  the  product 
of  labor ;  and  in  this  hypothesis  a  province  or  state 
containing  one  million  of  inhabitants,  would  yield  an 
equal  product  with  one  of  two  millions. 

» 

INCREASE   OF    THE    SECOND    FOWER. 

Extension  of  material  machinery. 

We  have  cited  minor  details  (kitchens,  cellars, 
granaries,  &c.)  producing  a  ten,  twenty  and  in  some 
branches  even  a  hundred-fold  product.  In  adding 
the  profits  of  general  unities  (weights,  measures, 
moneys,  &c.)  and  of  a  true  system  of  commerce,  we 
are  authorized  to  double  the  preceding  estimation, 
and  raise  it  from  two  to  four.  In  this  case  a  mil- 
lion of  men  will  produce  as  much  as  four  millions; 
or  in  other  words,  a  day's  labor,  now  valued  at  a 
dollar,  will  yield  the  value  of  four  dollars. 


NOX-PRODUCING    CLASSES   OF    CIVILIZATION.  65 

Take  irrigation,  a  branch  of  material  machinery, 
*s  an  example;  its  product  alone  would  double,  upon 
an  average,  the  crops  of  many  warm  countries,  now 
entirely  deprived  of  them,  if  the  rains  fail.  Other 
countries  have  only  a  half  or  a  quarter  crop,  for  the 
want  of  a  proper  supply  of  water,  and  have  to  aban- 
don various  branches  of  cultivation,  which  a  general 
system  of  reservoirs  and  trenches,  for  watering  plains 
and  declivities,  would  enable  them  to  undertake. 

The  irrigation  of  declivities  and  plains,  nevertheless, 
a  work  of  such  inestimable  value,  would  be  only  one 
of  the  numerous  prodigies  of  Association !  What  a 
source  of  profit ! 

INCREASE  OF    THE    THIRD    POWER, 

Enthusiasm  and  Emulation  of  Groups. 

Labor,  performed  with  apathy  and  indifference, 
does  not  yield  the  half  of  what  it  would,  if  the  rivalry 
and  enthusiasm  which  animate  the  Groups,  could 
be  communicated  to  it.  These  stimulents  are  per- 
manent attributes  of  the  Series ;  they  overcome  all 
obstacles  and  give  to  industry  a  degree  of  skill  and 
activity,  which  can  only  spring  from  noble  passions. 
We  find  none  of  these  inducements  in  civilization  ; 
pecuniary  interest  is  the  only  stimulent  of  the  labor- 
ing mass, 

INCREASE    OF    THE    FOURTH    POWER. 

Return  of  Non-Producers  to  Productive  Labor. 

What  is  at  present  tl.e  number  of  Active  and  Posi- 

5 


66  COMPOUND    ECONOMIES   OF    ASSOCIATION. 

tlve  laborers?  It  does  not  amount  to  one-third  of 
the  population.  We  have  shown  that  the  product  of 
a  workman,  useful  in  appearance,  is  often  merely 
negative,  if  employed,  for  instance,  on  a  fence  or  wall, 
which  is  not  a  real  and  positive  product. 

In  a  parallel  between  the  works  of  civilization  and 
Association,  we  will  find,  that  we  have  in  unpro- 
ductive or  negative  laborers,  TWO-THIRDS  of  the  po- 
pulation. 

LIST    OP    NON-PRODUCERS    Iff    CIVILIZATION. 

1st  Division. 

1.  Women, 

2.  Children, 

3.  Servants. 

2d  Division. 

4.  Armies. 

5.  Fiscal  Agents, 

6.  Manufactures,  (in  part) 

7.  Commerce,          (do.) 

8.  Transportation,  (do.) 

3d  Division. 

9.  Idlers, 

10.  Sophists  and  Controversists, 

11.  Idle  rich, 

12.  Scissionaries. 

AGENTS   OF    POSITIVE    DESTRUCTION, 

?*! 

AGEN'TS    OF    NEGATIVE    CREATION. 


NON-PRODUCING    CLASSES   OF  CIVILIZATION.  67 

FIRST  DIVISION.       DOMESTIC    PARASITES. 

1st.  Three-quarters  of  the  WOMEN' in  cities,  and 
half  of  those  in  the  country,  from  their  occupation 
in  household  work,  caused  by  domestic  complication. 
Their  day's  labor  is  only  estimated  in  political  eco- 
nomy at  a  fifth  of  that  of  man. 

2d.  Three-fourths  of  CHILDREN,  perfectly  useless 
in  cities,  and  of  but  little  use  in  the  country,  owing 
to  their  mischieveousness  and  want  of  skill. 

3d.  Three-fourths  of  SERVANTS  and  VALETS,  whose 
labor  is  but  the  effect  of  household  complication, 
particularly  in  kitchens ;  half  of  those  employed  in 
stables  are  also  useless,  as  their  labor  is  the  effect 
of  the  present  incoherent  system;  in  Association  they 
would  become  superfluous. 

These  three  classes,  whose  inaction  is  the  result  of 
the  present  household  organization  ;  form  a  separate 
division  in  the  serie  of  parasites.  In  Association  they 
will  cease  to  be  useless,  because  a  just  division  of 
functions,  and  an  appropriate  application  of  sexes  and 
ages,  will  reduce  to  a  fourth  or  fifth  the  number  of 
hands,  which  are  now  absorbed  in  the  immense  com- 
plication of  our  isolated  families  or  incoherent  house- 
holds. 

SECOND    DIVISION.      SOCIAL    PARASITES. 

4th.  ARMIES  by  sea  and  land — which,  besides  ab- 
sorbing the  largest  portion  of  the  public  revenue,  di- 
vert from  productive  labor  the  most  robust  of  the 
population,  and  predispose  them  to  depravity, by  forc- 

5* 


68  COMPOUND    ECONOMIES   OF   ASSOCIATION. 

ing  them  to  sacrifice,  in  a  parasitic  function,  years 
which  they  should  employ  in  acquiring  skill  and  abil- 
ity in  work,  for  which  they  lose  all  taste  in  a  mili- 
tary life.  The  vast  force  of  men  and  machines  called 
an  army,  is  engaged  in  producing  nothing,  while 
awaiting  to  be  employed  in  destruction.  This  second 
function  will  be  mentioned  hereafter.  We  here  view 
the  army  only  as  respects  stagnation  and  idleness. 

5th.  FISCAL  AGENTS.  What  an  enormous  quantity 
of  hands  does  the  custom-house  alone  absorb !  Let 
us  add  tax-gatherers,  inspectors,  arid  the  army  of 
clerks  employed  in  the  complicated  administration 
of  States  and  Cities.  How  many  could  return  to  pro- 
ductive industry  in  an  order  of  things,  in  which  each 
Phalanx  pays  as  a  body  its  dues  to  government. 

6th.  A  full  half  of  MANUFACTURES,  which  are  con- 
sidered useful,  but  which  are  relatively  unproductive, 
owing  to  badness  of  quality.*  General  perfection  in 
industry  would  reduce  the  waste  and  wear  of  manu- 
factures to  the  half,  and  often  three-quarters  of  what 
it  is  at  present,  particularly  in  government  works, 
which  every  one  tries  to  cheat. 

7th.  Nine-tenths  of  MERCHANTS  and  commercial- 
agents;  a  true  system  of  commerce  would  effect  ex- 
changes with  a  tenth  part  of  the  agents  which  the 

*  A  shoemaker,  who  makes  a  pair  of  boots,  that  rip  at  the 
end  of  a  week,  wastes  his  time,  and  is  relatively  unproductive. 
Although  he  labors,  he  produces  nothing  of  value,  and  might 
as  well  have  remained  idle.  The  same  observation  applies  to 
the  immense  amount  of  objects,  which  are  manufactured  to  be 
sold,  and  not  to  be  worn. 

.   - 


NON-PRODUCING    CLASSES  OF  CIVILIZATION.  69 

present  complication  employs.  We  remarked,  that 
purchases  and  sales  would  take  place  between  Pha- 
lanxes, and  not  between  an  infinite  number  of  sepa- 
rate families;  this  would  greatly  facilitate  a  simplifi- 
cation of  exchanges. 

8th.  Two-thirds  of  the  agents  of  TRANSPORTATION 
by  sea  and  land,  falsely  ranked  among  the  commer- 
cial classes,  and  who,  to  the  waste  of  a  complicated 
transportation,*  add  that  of  hazardous  transporta- 
tion ;  particularly  by  sea,  where  imprudence  and  the 
want  of  skill  increase  ship  wrecks  ten-fold. 

THIRD    DIVISION.      ACCESSORY    PARASITES. 

9th.  Legal,  accidental,  or  secret  IDLERS,  persons 
inactive,  from  want  of  work,  or  for  the  purpose  of 
amusement.  Let  us  add  corporative,  political,  car- 
nival, marriage,  and  other  celebrations,  which  would 
be  much  reduced  in  our  order  of  things,  where  in- 
dustrial re-unions  or  assemblies  will  be  more  attrac- 
tive than  balls  and  parties  in  civilization. 

The  waste  arising  from  accidental  stoppage  should 
also  be  taken  into  account.  If  the  overseer  is  away, 
the  workmen,  stop ;  if  they  see  a  man  or  a  cat  pass, 
they  all  turn  to  look:  leaning  on  their  spades  and 
gaping  for  diversion ;  forty  or  fifty  times  a  day  they 
lose  in  this  way  five  minutes.'  Their  week's  work  is 

*  This  waste  is  very  great:  a  bale  of  goods  often  passes  be- 
fore reaching  its  destination,  through  a  half  dozen  cities,  mere- 
ly because  a  system  of  direct  credit  and  transportation  has  not 
happened  to  have  been  established.  It  is  to  be  remarked,  that 
at  every  change  of  ownership  an  additional  charge  is  put  upon 
it,  which  is  an  immense  indirect  tax  upon  the  consumer. 


70  COMPOUND  ECONOMIES  OF  ASSOCIATION. 

hardly  equal  to  four  full  days.  How  much  waste 
and  idling  without  Attractive  Industry? 

10th.  SOPHISTS  and  CONTROVERSISTS,  including  those 
who  read  them,  and  take  part  at  their  instigation  in 
party  quarrels  and  unproductive  intrigues.  To  the 
time  lost  in  controversies,  which  confuse  all  subjects, 
are  to  be  added  political  commotions,  and  diversions 
from  industry. 

The  list  of  controversists  and  sophists  is  much 
greater  than  would  at  first  be  supposed.  Let  us  take 
jurisprudence,  as  an  example,  which  appears  an  ex- 
cusable sophism.  Suppose  Association  were  not  to 
produce  a  twentieth  part  of  the  law-suits,  which  we 
now  have,  and  that  to  settle  them  it  employed  means 
as  expeditious  as  ours  are  complicated,  it  follows 
that  nineteen-twentieths  of  the  bar  are  parasites, 
as  well  as  the  juries  and  witnesses  in  attendance. 
How  many  other  sophistical  parasites  are  there,  com- 
mencing with  political -economists,  who  declaim 
against  the  body  of  parasites,  but  who  uphold,  never- 
theless, the  system  which  produces  them. 

llth.  IDLES  B  CH,  people  passing  their  lives  in  do- 
ing nothing.  Add  to  them  their  servants  and  em- 
ployees, for  all  classes  who  serve  non-producers  are 
themselves  unproductive.  Prisoners  are  a  class  of 
constrained  idlers  :  so  are  the  sick,  but  for  a  better 
reason.  In  Association  there  will  not  be  a  tenth  part 
of  the  disease  that  exists  in  civilization:  and  although 
sickness  is  an  unavoidable  evil,  still  it  is  capable 
of  correction,  and  a  great  reduction.  Out  of  ten 


NON-PRODUCING    CLASSES   DP   CIVILIZATION.  71 

sick  persons,  nine  are  rendered  so  uselessly,  from  the 
defects  of  the  civilized  system, 

12lh.  SCISSIONARIES,  persons  in  open  rebellion 
against  industry,  laws,  morals  and  customs.  Such 
are  public  women,  vagrants,  beggars,  rogues,  bri- 
gands, &c.,  the  number  of  which  tends  less  than  ever 
to  decrease,  and  the  repression  of  which  requires  the 
maintenance  of  an  army  of  constables  and  police 
officers,  equally  unproductive,  besides  the  expense 
of  jails,  penitentiaries  andgallies.  Add  to  these,  per- 
sons engaged  in  lotteries  and  gambling  houses,  which 
are  true  social  pests, 

X    PIVOTAL    CLASSES, 

DIRECT.  Agents  of  POSITIVE  DESTRUCTION.  Armies 
actively  engaged  in  war,  and  other  classes,  which  we 
will  not  here  specify.  The  civilized  order  confers 
high  honors  on  them,  and  encourages  all  kinds  of 
inventions  which  can  extend  the  ravages  of  war,  such 
as  Congreve  rockets,  patent  bombs,  rifles,  &c, 

(Armies  in  this  list  of  non-producers,  occupy  two 
places;  here  they  appear  as  the  active  agents  of  de- 
struction; and  at  No.  4,  as  an  inert  and  unproductive 
mass.  It  is  not  a  double  enumeration,  but  a  differ- 
ence of  character,  which  requires  two  distinct  ar- 
ticles.) 

INVERSE.  AGENTS  or  NEGATIVE  CREATION.  We  have 
already  proved  that  they  are  excessively  numerous : 
that  a  great  many  works,  such  as  walls  and  fence?, 
are  relatively  unproductive  ;  others  are  illusions  from 


72  COMPOUND    ECONOMIES   OF    ASSOCIATIONS 

mistake  or  want  of  skill,  such  as  edifices  which  fall 
down,  roads  and  bridges  which  have  to  be  laid  out 
aaew,  and  made  over.  Others  are  indirect  ravage, 
such  as  the  destruction  of  forests,  or  chains  of  hills  ;. 
others  again  negative,  such  as  the  invention  of  a  new 
fashion,  which  may  throw  twenty  thousand  artisans 
out  of  employment,  and  reduce  them  and  their  fami- 
lies to  wan-t. 

In  speculating  upoa  the  return  of  all  these  unpro- 
ductive classes  to  labor,,  classes  which  Association 
would  make  use  of  from  the  onset,  we  can  again 
treble  the  product ;  it  was  eight-fold  at  the  third  in- 
crease, it  now  becomes  twenty-four-fold;  for  these 
masses  of  non-producers  comprise  tw.o-thirds  of  the 
population  in  civilization,  and  perhaps  this  estimate 
is  too  low.  It  is  certain  that  the  appropriate  applica- 
tion of  the  different  sexes  to  domestic  industry  would 
alone  yield  a  double  product,  now  their"  mis-applica- 
tion only  comprises  the  three  articles  of  the  first  di- 
vision, Ir2,  3.  If  the  presumed  product  which  arises 
from  the  appropriate  application  of  this  division, 
would  double  the  industrial  revenue,  we  may  safely 
treble  by  the  judicious  application  of  the  other  two 
divisions. 

We  are  not  yet  at  the  end  of  these  multiple  in- 
creases ;  there  are  other  means  quite  as  efficacious 
as  the  foregoing,  such  as : 

5th.  POWER.  Rapid  increase  of  HEALTH  and  strength 
of  man,  as  well  as  the  perfection  of  the  animal  and 


NON-PRODUCING    CLASSES   OF    CIVILIZATION.  73 

vegetable  kingdoms.  To  judge  of  this  subject,  we 
must  await  the  treatise  on  integral  education. 

6th.  POWER.  Amelioration  of  CLIMATE.  It  would 
lead  us  too  far  to  enter  upon  this  subject  at  present ; 
we  will  merely  say  that  a  general  and  integral  culti- 
vation of  the  earth's  surface,  would  soften  and  re- 
gulate the  temperature,  increase  the  warmth  towards 
the  poles,  by  he  draining  of  swamps,  and  the  clear- 
ing of  forests  ;  and  correct  the  excessive  heat  of  the 
equator,  by  fertilizing  the  deserts,  and  preventing  the 
drying  up  of  streams. 

We  could  add  other  means  of  increase,  but  we 
have  already  mentioned  enough  to  satisfy  the  most 
insatiate  minds ;  and  prove  the  great  error  of  politi- 
cal-economists in  speculating  solely  upon  our  rude 
and  apathetic  system  of  industry.  By  considering  it 
the  only  system  possible,  they  have  deprived  them- 
selves of  an  important  guide  in  the  investigation  of 
social  questions.  Had  they  directed  their  attention 
to  the  means  of  amelioration  here  examined,  they 
would  have  suspected  the  possibility  of  success,  and 
proposed  the  examination  of  Association — which  is 
the  only  method  of  directing  to  industry  such  vast 
numbers  of  non-producers. 

To  those  of  our  readers  who  deny  the  possibility 
of  these  future  riches,  we  say  :  rid  yourselves  of  your 
prejudices  in  favor  of  the  civilized  mechanism,  of  the 
present  social  system,  for  which  you  have  so  great  a 
reverence.  The  world  has  been  misled  for  three 
thousand  years  past  by  sophists,  who,  in  speaking  of 


74  COMPOUND    ECONOMIES   OP   ASSOCIATION. 

justice,  truth,  unity  and  riches,  have  declared  "that 
so  much  happiness,  so  much  perfection,  was  not  made 
far  man."  A  true  and  common-sense  belief  in  Pro- 
vidence, would  have  led  us  to  the  conclusion  "that 
if  Association,  if  this  new  social  world,  could  guar- 
antee to  mankind  so  much  happiness,  it  is  impossible 
that  the  Divinity,  who  foresaw  this  ocean  of  riches 
and  virtue  in  Association,  should  not  have  reserved 
us  the  means  of  realizing  it." 

Had  he  not,  there  would  be  injustice  and  vexation 
in  his  system ;  attractions  would  be  out  of  all  pro- 
portion with  destinies.  How  can  we  suppose  such 
inconsistency  on  the  part  of  the  Supreme  Economist, 
who  has  so  justly  distributed  impulses,  that  no  ani- 
mal feels  the  want  of  a  happiness  other  than  his  own. 
If  man  alone  desires  more,  it  is  because  he  was  not 
created  for  the  miseries  of  civilization,  and  has  not 
attained  the  destiny  which  is  reserved  for  him  by 
the  Creator. 

But  leaving  these  considerations  aside,  what  blind- 
ness it  is  in  political  economists  not  to  perceive,  that 
of  civilized  populations,  two-thirds  are  non-producers, 
and  that  to  attain  true  economy,  which  consists  in  a 
treble  or  quadruple  product,  we  must  organize  a  dif- 
ferent social  order.  This  order  can  only  be  Associa- 
tion, because  there  are  but  two  systems  of  industry: 
COMBINATION,  OR  ASSOCIATION,  INCOHERENCE,  OR  CIVILI- 
ZATION. 


INCOHERENCE    AND    WASTE,  &C.  75 


CHAPTER  SEVENTH. 

INCOHERENCE  AND  WASTE  OF  THE  PRESENT  ORDER. 

Individual  economy,  both  vexatious  and  contrary  to  nature,  is 
the  only  economy  known  in  civilization.  Its  practice — tantamount 
to  individual  privati  m — is  zealously  preached  by  moralists  and 
sages  ;  and  what  are  the  riches  of  civilization,  with  all  its  stinting 
and  parsimony  ?  Positive  poverty  for  seven-eighths,  and  relative 
poverty  for  the  remaining  eighth. 

Dean. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  the  Political  order  has  alone  been  the 
object  of  study,  while  the  Industrial  order,  incomparably  more 
essential  to  the  happiness  of  mankind,  has  been  almost  entirely 
neglected. 

A.  Tamisier. 

Waste!        Waste  ! !        Waste  ! ! ! 

The  observations  contained  in  the  foregoing  chapters  will, 
we  trust,  be  sufficient  to  convince  the  reader  of  the  vast  and 
foolish  waste  which  results  from  our  present  social  mechanism  ; 
and  of  the  colossal  economies  and  profits,  which  would  arise 
from  Association  and  Combination  in  industrial  interests. 

These  observations  could  be  extended  infinitely ,  but  the 
reader,  by  observing  attentively  the  effects  of  our  incoherent 
system,  examples  of  which  he  meets  at  every  step  around  him, 
cannot  fail  to  be  convinced  of  the  absence  of  every  thing  like 
order,  economy  and  foresight  in  our  present  system  of  society. 

If  such  characteristics  marked  the  operations  of  an  indivi- 
dual, it  would  be  easy  to  foresee,  that  so  far  from  attaining 


76  INCOHERENCE   AN'D    WASTE 

riches,  he  must  inevitably  sink  into  poverty  and  want.  The 
same  law  is  applicable  to  society;  the  absence  of  Association 
and  economy  in  our  whole  system  of  industry,  plunges  the  so- 
cial world  into  indigence  and  want,  the  source  of  endless  dis- 
cord, depravity  and  degradation.  This  great  fact  escapes 
the  attention  of  men,  because  each  individual,  anxious  only 
to  escape  from  the  common  evil,  and  to  secure  himself  a  suf- 
ficiency, so  as  to  enjoy  tranquility  in  the  state  of  general  pri- 
vation and  anxiety  around  him,  sees  nor  cares  not  for  the 
mass.  In  the  confused  efforts,  however,  which  are  made  by 
each,  and  all  to  attain  the  great  desideratum,  fortune,  they 
only  trample  each  other  down,  and  after  all  we  find  in  society, 
that  the  greater  the  conflict  and  strife  of  individuals,  the 
greater  the  collective  poverty  and  depravity.  England  illus- 
trates this  fact  fully  ;  no  country  has  carried  all  branches  of 
industry  to  the  extent  she  has  done,  and  no  where  is  there  such 
a  hideous  contrast  of  poverty  and  wealth.  The  same  efforts 
combined,  would  have  secured  riches  and  happiness  to  all,  but 
no  one  has  time  to  stop  to  consider  upon  this  fact;  each  indi- 
vidual flatters  himself  with  the  idea,  that  if  seven-eighths  of 
those  who  were  making  the  same  efforts  before  him  have 
failed,  he  may  nevertheless,  with  better  management,  suc- 
ceed. He  strives  to  secure  his  happiness  isolatedly  and  se- 
parately from  the  race ;  if  his  fellows  suffer,  and  he  does  not, 
it  is  to  him  as  if  suffering  did  not  exist.  No  collective  action, 
so  essential  to  the  welfare  of  all,  takes  place.  In  the  mean- 
time our  planet  rolls  on  in  its  course,  carrying  with  it  a  rest- 
less, depraved,  half  famished,  discordant  and  warring  race ! 

If  we  wish  to  find  the  most  perfect  picture  of  waste  and  dis- 
order, we  must  search  for  it  in  our  large  cities.  It  is  there 
that  we  will  find  our  cut-up  system,  in  which  every  thing  is 
reduced  to  the  measure  and  selfishness  of  the  individual,  pro- 
ducing an  incoherence  and  complication,  which  might  pro- 
perly be  termed  a  combination  for  the  production  of  evil ;  for 
it  would  seem  as  if  things  were  so  organized,  as  to  cause  the 


OF    THE    PRESENT  ORDER.  77 

greatest  possible  number  of  evils,  and  ensure  their  most  rapid 
propagation.  Each  house,  for  example,  has  its  sink  of  filth, 
the  miasmas  of  which  the  whole  population  must  breathe :  the 
poverty  or  neglect,  or  both  combined,  of  a  single  family,  pro- 
duce a  contagious  disease,  which  extends  to  a  thousand  others, 
among  which  there  will  be  indigent  ones  enough,  to  keep  it 
in  existence. 

The  neglect  of  one  person,  of  a  child,  or  a  servant  perhaps, 
in  whom  it  is  often  necessary  to  confide ;  burns  down  not  only 
the  house  of  one  family,  but  a  hundred  others  with  it ;  or  the 
misplaced  economy  of  a  stove-pipe,  causes  a  loss  of  the  same 
kind,  which  would  be  sufficient  to  construct  all  the  apparatus 
necessary  for  warming  a  town  or  the  manor-house  of  a  Phalanx. 
Where  every  thing  is  left  to  the  ignorance,  cupidity,  careless- 
ness or  inability  of  individuals,  no  guarantees  ofa  general  na- 
ture can  exist  or  be  put  in  practice. 

It  is  from  the  poverty  of  the  mass  in  our  large  cities,  that 
the  greatest  abuses  take  place.  If  a  capitalist  builds  damp 
cellars ,  garrets  without  ventilation ,  small  and  confined 
rooms,  close  court-yards  without  light  and  circulation,  and 
with  hardly  the  conveniencies  necessary  to  the  wants  of  its 
inmates,  he  is  sure  to  find  droves  of  indigent  families,  who 
will  stow  themselves  away  in  these  tenements,  making  of 
them  hot-beds  of  disease,  and  nurseries  of  demoralization.  Mo- 
ralists wonder  that  human  nature  can  be  as  depraved  as  they 
find  it  in  our  societies,  and  they  seek  in  the  heart  the  source 
of  all  this  depravity ;  it  is  only  surprising  that  human  nature 
should  bear  so  much,  and  murmur  so  little,  and  that  with  its 
load  of  social  evil  and  misery,  so  much  good  will  and  gaiety 
still  remain. 

If  we  cite  examples  of  material  waste,  we  should  rank,  next 
to  that  of  fires,  which  we  mentioned  above,  the  loss  occasioned 
by  the  tearing  down  of  buildings,  from  being  badly  constructed, 
or  from  speculation.  This  waste  in  many  of  our  large  cities 
must  be  enormous,  and  is  due  to  want  of  combination  and  fore- 


78  INCOHERENCE   AND    WASTE 

sight.  What  absence  of  order,  in  an  architectural  point  of 
view,  on  the  part  of  society,  not  to  be  able  to  plan  its  buildings, 
so  as  to  answer  the  wants  of  the  community  for  twenty  years 
in  advance  !  The  widening,  straightning  and  lenghtning  of 
streets  form  another  gigantic  item  of  waste.  All  these  abuses 
arise  from  the  fact  that  in  planing  our  cities  and  towns,  no 
system,  no  method  exists.  There  is  no  adaptation  of  archi- 
tecture to  our  wants  and  requirements;  our  houses  are  as  little 
suited  to  our  physical  welfare ,  as  our  social  laws  are  to  our 
attractions  and  passions.  It  is  to  be  observed,  that  this  enor- 
mous waste  and  expenditure  are  paid  by  productive  industry, 
upon  which  an  immense  indirect  tax  is  laid,  which  is  not  per- 
ceived. The  farmers,  manufacturers  and  mechanics,  must  pro- 
duce the  means  for  paying  in  the  end  for  every  thing,  cities, 
ships,  canals,  railroads,  &c. 

Men  become,  however,  so  accustomed  to  the  order  of  things 
in  which  they  live,  that  these  facts  do  not  strike  them :  not 
conceiving  the  possibility  of  changing  the  social  mechanism, 
it  appears  to  them  natural  and  permanent :  if,  however,  they 
could  be  brought  to  doubt  its  efficacy,  or  rather  its  infallibility  ; 
and  examine  it  with  scrutinizing  attention,  a  social  skepti- 
cism would  take  the  place  of  their  present  blindness.  It  is  a 
result  deeply  to  be  desired :  vegitating  as  the  world  does  in 
its  present  social  condition,  all  improvements  in  science  and 
industry  are  of  no  use  to  the  great  mass ;  their  poverty  does 
not  diminish  with  these  improvements;  and  the  increased 
means  of  enjoyment,  the  refinement  of  luxury,  to  which  they 
give  rise,  only  excite  that  mass  to  every  kind  of  fraud  and 
falseness  to  obtain  a  share  of  and  participate  in  them. 

Riches  are  the  leading  wish  of  man,  and  in  this  country 
wealth  has  become  the  all  absorbing  object  of  desire.  In  this 
strife  after  wealth,  in  which  millions  are  engaged,  why  has  it 
not  been  perceived,  that  not  one-twentieth  can  succeed  ?  If 
but  one-third  of  the  population  are  producers,  if  production  is 
the  only  source  of  riches,  and  if  our  system  of  consumption  in 


I 

OF    THE    PRESENT   ORDER.  79 

isolated  households  is  so  complicated,  that  the  small  amount 
produced  by  the  third  does  not  go  one-half  as  far  as  it  would 
in  a  system  of  Combination  and  Association  (or  in  other  words, 
if  one-half  of  the  small  product  created  by  the  producing  third 
of  society  is  wasted),  how  is  it  possible  that  even  the  common 
wants  of  the  entire  population,  setting  aside  all  superfluity, 
can  be  satisfied? 

Let  us  draw  a  comparison,  which  will  explain  this  clearly. 
Suppose  that,  out  of  three  persons  living  together,  one  alone 
was  engaged  in  producing,  while  the  other  two  were  idle :  it 
is  very  evident  that  the  active  laborer  could  not  alone  produce 
enough  to  maintain  himself  and  the  other  two  comfortably. 
But  if  we  suppose  in  addition,  that  each  has  a  separate  house, 
has  his  meals  prepared  separately  in  his  own  dwelling,  the 
small  product  of  the  producer  would  not  go  near  as  far  as  if 
they  lived  together,  and  economized  their  means  ;  to  the  loss 
caused  by  the  idleness  of  two  inactive  persons,  is  to  be  added 
the  waste  of  separate  and  complicated  preparations.    This  is 
a  perfect  illustration  of  the  present  state  of  things.     One-third 
of  the  population  produce ;  two-thirds  are  non-producers.     In- 
stead of  uniting  and  associating  for  the  purpose  of  making  the 
insufficient  product  of  the  labor  of  the  active  third  go  as  far  as 
possible,  the  most  excessive  complication  and   waste  takes 
place,  there  being  as  many  separate  houses,  kitchens,  cooks, 
fires,  &c.  as  there  are  families.    The  result  is  that  the  popula- 
tion of  all  countries,  except  this,  are  removed  but  one  degree 
from   starvation.     Those  of  China  are  so  poor  that  they  eat 
vermin,  those   of  India  subsist  on  a  little  rice  without  salt, 
and  tens  of  thousands  die  of  starvation  and  are  thrown  into  the 
Ganges.    The  Farias,  the  most  degraded  class,  are   driven 
even  to  eat  sometimes  these  starved  carcasses.     The  agricul- 
tural classes  often  plant  their  crops  in  the  hope  only  of  being 
hired  to  harvest  them.    The  Irish  peasantry  have  scarcely  salt 
with  their  potatoes,  and  in  many  parts  of  the  country,  they  eat 
bread  and  meat  but  once  a  year.  Eight  millions  of  French  live 


INCOHERENCE    AND    WASTE 

% 

upon  chesnuts  and  such  trash ;  out  of  a  population  of  thirty- 
two  millions,  twenty-two  millions  have  but  about  six  cents  a 
day  to  live  upon  and  defray  all  expenses.     Twenty-five  mil- 
lions drink  no  wine,  although  France  supplies  the  world  with 
wine.  It  is  to  be  remarked  that  in  the  most  civilized  countries, 
those  in  which  industry  is  carried  to  the  greatest  perfection, 
their  population  are  subjected  to  the  severest  labor,  and  are 
often  the  most  miserable.    The  peasantry  of  Portugal,  Austria, 
and  even  Russia  are  less  harrassed  by  anxiety,  and  better  sup- 
plied with  food  than  are  those  of  France  and  England.  In  this 
view  of  different  countries,  we  must  not  overlook  our  own  ; 
nearly  three  millions  of  negro  producers,  whose  labor  pays  for 
our  imported  luxuries,  are  merely  supplied  with  their  physical 
wants.    We  may  well  say  with  Fourier  :  "  Can  a  more  fright- 
ful disorder  than  that  which  exists  upon  this  Globe  be  con- 
ceived.    One-half  of  the  earth  is  invaded  by  wild  beasts,   or 
savages,  which  is  about  the  same  thing ;  as  to  the  other  half 
which  is  under  cultivation,  we   see   three-quarters  of  it  oc- 
cupied by  Barbarians  who  enslave  the  producers  and  women, 
and  who  in  every  respect  violate  justice  and  reason.     There 
remains  consequently  an  eighth  of  the  Globe  in  possession  of 
the  civilized,  who  boast  of  their  improvements  while  giving 
to  indigence  and  corruption  their  fullest  development." 

But  to  return  to  our  subject :  if  we  accept  and  approve  of 
the  system  which  allots  to  each  family  a  separate  house,  we 
must  approve  of  the  effects  which  result  from  such  a  system. 
With  four  hundred  families  and  four  hundred  separate  dwell- 
ings, all  the  cares  and  duties  attendant  upon  providing  for  a 
household,  must  be  gone  throught  with  four  hundred  times, 
until  the  complication  becomes  frightful.  Four  hundred  per- 
sons must  be  sent  to  market,  to  make  four  hundred  separate 
purchases,  who  lose  time  enough  in  selecting  articles  wanted, 
and  in  bargaining,  to  produce  them  nearly.  The  four  hundred 
houses  imply  that  there  are  four  hundred  dark  holes,  called 
kitchen?,  in  which  four  hundred  poor  creatures  must  pass  their 


Or   THE   PRESENT    ORDER.  81 

time  over  a  hot  fire  in  the  middle  of  Bummer.  Four  hundred 
monotonous  meals  are  prepared,  three-fourths  of  them  badly 
so,  which  give  rise  to  as  many  discords  as  there  are  dishes. 
As  neither  mistresses  nor  servants  are  satisfied  in  this  system, 
the  former  scold,  and  the  latter  are  indifferent  or  faithless.  If 
an  ox  is  killed,  it  is  cut  up  and  disposed  of  in  an  infinite 
number  of  little  lots;  every  hogshead  of  sugar,  every  box 
of  tea  has  to  be  retailed  out  pound  by  pound;  this  excess 
of  complication  increases  ten-times  the  number  of  butchers 
and  dealers  necessary,  whose  intermediate  profits  are  a  heavy 
indirect  tax  upon  the  consumer.  The  more  we  go  into  these 
details,  the  more  we  shall  be  convinced,  that  with  this  waste 
and  want  of  system,  individual  economies  are  illusive,  and 
that  the  mass  must  suffer  poverty  and  privation  under  the  best 
of  governments. 

Judge  a  tree  by  its  fruit,  a  society  by  its  results ;  let  us  not 
be  carried  away  by  the  endless  praises  which  are  lavished  on 
our  advanced  state  of  civilization,  as  the  present  system  is 
called.  It  is  time  some  positive  ameliorations  were  demanded 
at  the  hands  of  our  politicians  and  legislators:  we  have  party 
politics  and  legislation  enough ;  if  any  good  could  come  from 
the  incoherent  laws  and  arbitrary  constitutions  of  civilization, 
it  would  have  been  realized  long  since.  Experience,  and  the 
condition  of  mankind,  prove  that  nothing  effective  is  to  be 
hoped  from  them,  and  common  sense  dictates  that  we  should 
seek  elsewhere,  in  agricultural  Association,  or  in  a  reform  in 
industry,  for  social  good. 

Hut  politicians  scarcely  dare  put  forth  the  hypothesis  of  a 
social  reform  and  a  change  in  the  condition  of  mankind  :  the 
human  race  have  so  long  been  curbed  under  the  yoke  of  mis- 
fortune, that  suffering  is  believed  to  be  the  law  of  their  nature. 
The  views  and  belief  of  politicians  have  so  adapted  themselves 
to  this  doctrine,  that  it  has  become  a  dogmatical  part  of  their 
creed ;  they  have  asserted  it  so  often,  that  they  must  stand 
by  their  declarations.  Their  personal  and  party  interests  have 

6 


82  INCOHERENCE    AND   WASTE 

also  become  so  entwined  with  the  present  state  of  things, 
that  they  are  even  led  to  support  the  present  social  subversion ; 
add  to  this  the  apathy  of  the  world,  its  disbelief  in  the  possi- 
bility of  a  great  social  change,  and  we  have  the  explanation 
why  no  social  principles  are  discussed,  and  why  no  efforts  are 
made  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  that  vast  mass  of  suffer- 
ing, helpless  and  degraded  beings  who  form  three-fourths  of 
the  population  of  the  globe.  It  is  time  this  stupid  policy,  if 
all  disbelief  in  a  social  reform  can  be  called  such,  should  be  de- 
nounced ;  the  mass,  we  trust,  have  become  intelligent  enough 
to  demand  some  effective  reforms  at  the  hands  of  their  political 
leaders,  so  active  in  administrative  reforms,  and  so  clamorous 
in  their,  protestations  of  love  for  the  people. 
Nine  permanent  evils  characterize  the  course  of  our  socie- 

B 

ties  ;  let  the  mass  call  upon  those  leaders  to  discover  the  prin- 
ciples of  a  society  which  will  produce  nine  results  directly  op- 
posed to  them,  will  guarantee  social  happiness,  and  give  us 
the  standard  of  a  true  social  organization. 

NINE    PERMANENT    SCOURGES    OF    CIVILIZATION. 

Indigence ; 

Fraud ; 

Oppression ;  « 

War; 

Derangement  of  climate ; 

Diseases  artificially  produced ;  plague;   yellow  fever; 

cholera  ;  small  pox,  &c. ; 
Vicious  circle,  without  any  opening  for  improvement ; 

UNIVERSAL  SELFISHNESS  ; 
DUPLICITY    OF    SOCIAL    ACTION. 

NINE    PERMANENT    BENEFITS    TO  BE    ATTAINED. 

General  riches ; 

Practical  truth  in  all  relations  of  life  ; 


OP   THE    PRESENT    ORDER.  83 

| 

Effective  liberty  in  the  same ; 
Constant  peace ; 

Equilibrium  of  temperature  and  climate  ; 
System  of  preventive  medicine  and  extirpation  of  arti- 
ficial diseases ; 
Opening  offered  to  all  improvements  and  ameliorations ; 

COLLECTIVE    AND    INDIVIDUAL    PHILANTHROPY; 
UNITY    OF    SOCIAL    ACTION. 

Such  are  the  benefits  Association  would  realize ;  but  can 
we  look  for  co-operation  from  men  whose  interests,  as  we 
said,  are  concentrated  in  personal  success?  The  circle  of  our 
civilized  politics  is  very  narrow,  but  it  insures  the  successful 
individual,  often  without  merit  or  great  effort,  applause  for 
the  day,  and  frequently  pecuniary  reward  with  it.  Immediate 
and  personal  advantage  only  stimulates  the  great  majority ; 
the  idea  of  a  social  reform  which  would  change  the  destiny 
of  mankind,  although  vast  and  sublime,  is  too  far  off",  too 
severed  from  all  personal  advantages,  to  find  many  adherents 
and  enthusiasts.  There  must  be,  however,  some  characters 
so  constituted  as  to  feel  the  want  of  an  object,  high  and  last- 
ing, with  which  to  connect  their  efforts,  so  that  something 
may  remain  to  show  that  they  lived  upon  this  earth,  and  that 
their  intellectual  was  not  as  fleeting  as  their  material  exis- 
tence. It  is  among  such  temperaments,  that  we  must  seek  for 
the  advocates  of  the  great  social  reform,  which  the  present  age 
may  have  the  glory  of  achieving! 


6* 


84  DEFECTS    OP   INDUSTRY 


CHAPTER  EIGHTH. 

DEFECTS    OF    INDUSTRY    EXERCISED    BY    ISOLATED 
HOUSEHOLDS. 


The  great  error  has  been  committed  to  suppose,  that  the  Pro- 
vidence of  the  Divinity  does  not  extend  to  the  Social  relations  of 


Labor,  says  the  Holy  Writ,  was  a  punishment  inflicted  on  man 
for  his  transgressions  ;  in  telling  us  the  truth  respecting  the  mis- 
fortune attached  to  the  present  system  of  labor,  it  has  not  said 
that  this  punishment  might  not  at  some  day  cease,  and  that  man 
might  not  regain  the  happiness  which  he  primitively  enjoyed. 

We  will  now  proceed  to  examine  the  defects  of  individual 
action  in  industry.  Agriculture,  manufactures  and  domestic 
labor  are  exercised  by  separate,  isolated  families,  between 
whom  no  combination,  no  understanding  exist.  Every  thing 
is  left  to  the  weak  and  uncombined  efforts  of  indiviouals,  a 
portion  of  whose  inefficient  labor  IB  wasted  by  conflicts  of  in- 
terest and  rival  enterprizes.  With  the  present  waste  and 
miserable  application  of  labor,  it  is  only  surprising  that  enough 
i«  produced  to  guarantee  the  mass  against  actual  want. 

"  The  civilized  order  presents  a  ridiculous  mechanism,  in 
which  portions  of  the  whole,  are  in  conflict  with,  and  acting 
against  the  whole.  We  see  each  class  desire  from  interest  the 
misfortune  of  other  classes,  and  place  every  where  individual 
interest  in  conflict  with  public  good.  The  lawyer  wishes  Liti- 
gationt  and  Suits,  particularly  among  the  rich.  The  physician 


EXERCISED    BY  ISOLATED    HOUSEHOLDS.  85 

desires  Sickness;  (the  latter -would  be  ruined,  if  everybody 
died  without  disease,  as  would  the  former,  if  all  quarrels  were 
settled  by  arbitration.)  The  soldier  wants  a  War,  which  will 
carry  off  half  his  comrades,  to  secure  him  promotion.  The 
undertaker  wants  Burials.  Monopolists  and  forestallers  want 
Famines,  to  double  or  treble  the  price  of  grain.  The  archi- 
tect, the  carpenter,  the  mason,  want  Conflagrations,  that  will 
burn  down  a  hundred  houses,  to  give  activity  to  their  branches 
of  business." 

Thus  the  civilized  mechanism  not  only  deprives  us  of  the 
great  economies  of  Association,  but  it  organizes  a  regular 
Industrial  War,  in  which  one-half  the  talent,  efforts  and  labor 
of  individuals  is  wasted  by  conflicting  interests.  No  protective 
aid  is  given  to  the  individual  by  society ;  no  Social  Providence 
exists  to  extend  him  support ;  he  must  fight  his  own  way,  and 
society  cares  but  little  how  ;  if  he  fails  and  poverty  is  his  lot, 
he  is  left,  to  suffer  alone. 

The  defects  of  this  system,  with  its  piece-meal  or  fragmen- 
tal  system  of  cultivation,  are  so  great,  that  it  is  surprising 
no  one  has  analyzed  them,  or  at  least  some  of  the  most  palp- 
able, like  the  following : 

DEFECTS  OF  INDUSTRY  EXERCISED  BY  SEPARATE  FAMILIES. 

1st.  Smallest  possible  Association :  a  single  family  with- 
out capital,  credit  or  exterior  relations ;  and  often  even  with- 
out the  necessary  implements  of  industry. 

2d.  Labor  without  rivalry,  prosecuted  alone  the  entire  day 
through,  without  variety  or  change. 

3d.  No  variety  of  occupations,  no  elegance  in  the  organi- 
zation of  industry,  of  manufactories  and  workshops,  calculated 
to  please  and  stimulate  the  working  classes. 

4th.  No  system  for  developing  the  instincts  of  children, 
and  for  giving  them  an  industrial  education. 

5th.     Misapplication   of  the  labor  of  sexes  and  ages ;  bad 


86  DEFECTS   OF    INDUSTRY 

adaptation  of  cultivation  to  the  soil;  excessive  power  given  .to 
capital,  and  its  tyranny  over  industry. 

6th.  Complication  in  labor,  obliging  a  single  individual  to 
execute  every  part  and  detail  of  a  work. 

7th.  Waste  of  talent  and  capacities,  and  want  of  a  just 
system  of  remuneration,  guaranteeing  to  all,  to  the  child  and 
woman,  as  well  as  to  the  man,  a  share  of  the  general  product, 
proportional  to  their  Labor,  Capital  and  Skill. 

8th.  Separation  and  collision  of  the  three  primordial  branches 
of  industry,  agriculture,  manufactures,  and  domestic  labor. 

9th.  False  and  anarchial  competition  in  industry ;  opposi- 
tion of  like  branches  of  business  and  labor,  instead  of  Associa- 
tion and  emulative  rivalry. 

10th.    Production  and   consumption  subservient  to  com- 
merce ;  dependent  upon  it  for  all  their  sales  and  purchases ; 
which  dependency  opens  an  unrestricted  field  to  the  adultera- 
tions, frauds,  monopolies  and  other  depredations  of  a  mass  of  > 
intermediate,  irresponsible  agents. 

Almost  any  one  of  the  above  defects  is  sufficient  to  disor- 
ganize industry ;  what  then  must  our  civilized  system  be  with 
all  of  them,  and  a  great  many  others  at  work  within  it?  The 
industrial  organization,  that  is,  the  method  of  carrying  on  agri- 
culture, manufactures,  &c.,  is  the  foundation  of  the  social 
system.  The  business  relations  of  men,  the  riches  and  wel- 
fare of  society,  depend  mainly  upon  that  organization.  Labor 
is  the  daily  and  hourly  occupation  of  the  working  mass,  whose 
situation  and  happiness,  whose  condition,  both  intellectual 
and  material,  are  dependent  upon  its  mode  of  exercise.  It 
strikes  us  then,  that  the  industrial  organization  is  a  vast  and 
important  subject,  well  worthy  of  occupying  the  attention  of 
legislators,  politicians  and  the  world  in  general.  This  great 
question  is  nevertheless  entirely  overlooked.  While  reforms 
in  the  administration  and  in  other  departments,  but  particu- 
larly in  the  former,  are  urged  incessantly,  vehemently  by  a 


EXERCISED    BY   ISOLATED    HOUSEHOLDS.  87 

thousand  presses  at  least,  and  tens  of  thousands  of  politician^, 
no  reform  in  industry  is  recommended,  or  even  though:  01': 

'i  he  evils  society  labors  under,  are  only  to  be  remedied  by 
going  to  the  foundation  of  the  social  organization,  and  reform- 
ing our  system  of  incoherent  industry.  All  legislative  action 
is  useless,  because  it  is  merely  occupied  with  the  surface  of 
questions.  What  can  it  do  for  the  majority,  for  the  laboring 
classes,  whose  fate  is  linked  in  with  the  labor  to  which  they 
are  tied  down  "J  It  of  course  can  do  nothing,  it  leaves  them 
dependent  upon  the  manner  that  labor  is  exercised.  Its  action 
is  merely  negative  ;  if  it  cannot  point  out  the  means  of  pro- 
ducing enough  to  guarantee  a  sufficiency  to  every  member  of 
society ;  it  devises,  as  a  remedy,  poor  houses,  where  a  few  find 
a  disgraceful  asylum.  If  it  cannot  do  away  with  the  litigation, 
fraud  and  cheatery  without  end,  which  result  from  the  pre- 
sent system  of  industry,  it  can  build  penitentiaries  to  repress 
such  acts  as  are  over  flagrant.  Thus  legislation  is  occupied 
with  the  mere  results  and  effects  of  the  social  organization,  to 
the  entire  neglect  of  their  source — that  organization  itself. 
And  in  the  present  state  of  things,  in  which  all  industrial  and 
social  relations  have  become  systematized,  and  have  settled 
down  into  a  regular  channel,  it  is  a  mere  parasitic  function, 
neglecting  not  only  all  vital  questions,  but  absorbing  in  its  in- 
efficient action,  the  minds  and  labors  of  those  who  might  devote 
themselves  to  truly  beneficial  and  fundamental  reforms.  It 
may  be  said  that  legislation  should  have  nothing  to  do  with 
the  industrial  and  other  relations  of  men  ;  if  so,  who  should  ? 
Besides,  if  it  interfere  in  all  questions  arising  out  of  those  re- 
lations/ why  could  it  not  operate  upon  those  relations  them- 
selves? 

It  is  time,  no  matter  from  what  source  it  comes,  that  some- 
thing should  be  done  for  the  laboring  multitude.  As  politics 
and  legislation,  absorbed  in  party  quarrels,  are  incapable  of 
ameliorating  in  an  efficacious  and  positive  manner  the  condi- 
tion of  the  mass,  we  must  search  for  the  means  in  a  change 


88  DEFECTS    OF  INDUSTRY 

and  a  reform  in  industry.  Labor  by  groups,  should  be  substi- 
tuted in  the  place  of  our  system  of  individual  labor ;  Associa- 
tion in  the  place  of  our  isolated  households.  The  question 
ought  to  be  broached  and  discussed ;  but  the  heralds  of  publi- 
city, authors,  newspapers,  etc.,  are  only  occupied  with  the 
rich  and  the  great,  and  their  interests.  Banks,  commerce 
and  electoral  intrigues ;  the  fashions,  slanders  and  chronicles 
of  the  fashionable  world  are  fertile,  and,  as  it  would  appear,  the 
only  interesting  subjects  of  conversation.  There  is  nothing 
agreeable  in  penetrating  into  the  workshops  and  manufactories 
of  civilization,  with  their  monotony,  dirt  and  miasmas.  In  the 
vexations  and  anxieties  of  the  laboring  mass,  there  is  a  poor  field 
for  literary  display  ;  but  let  us  enter  it,  let  us  examine  some  of 
the  vexations  of  the  multitude  who  produce  the  means  of  feed- 
ing, clothing  and  lodging  the  favored  few,  and  those  whose 
pens  and  imaginations  are  at  their  service.  Their  riches, 
their  means  of  obtaining  the  pleasures  of  life,  are  drawn  from 
the  product  of  the  \vorking  multitude,  who,  supporting  the 
burdens  and  privations  of  society,  enjoy  so  few  of  its  benefits. 

The  list  annexed  may  appear  exaggerated  in  some  of  its  cha- 
racters, as  respects  this  country,  but  it  must  be  remembered 
that  we  are  yet  a  young  people,  that  we  have  a  vast  extent 
of  soil  and  a  thin  population,  which  open  a  broad  field  to  the 
eflbtts  of  individuals.  Let  us  wait  until  we  have  a  thick  po- 
pulation ;  with  our  ptodigious  activity,  and  rapacious  money- 
making  spirit,  both  of  which  will  be  turned  to  evil,  (for  our 
subversive  societies  misdirect  all  human  activity,  directing  it 
at  one  period  to  military  war,  or  carnage ;  at  another,  to  indus- 
trial war,  or  free  competition,  the  latter  of  which  always  ends 
in  the  enslaving  of  the  laboring  mass  by  large  capitalists,)  we 
will  see  a  state  of  things  compared  with  which,  our  descrip- 
tions will  be  far  below  the  truth. 

In  our  analysis,  however,  we  have  not  a  single  country  in 
view ;  we  examine  the  civilized  social  system  in  general ;  if 
the  defects  we  find  annexed  do  not  extend  to  this  or  that  coun. 


EXERCISED    BT    ISOLATED    HOUSEHOLDS.  89 

try,  at  a  particular  period,  it  rs  because  time  has  not  developed 
all  the  results  of  that  system. 

VEXATIONS  OF  THE  LABORING  CLASSES  IN  CIVILIZATION. 

1st.  Necessity  of  exposing  frequently  their  health,  to  ob- 
tain work,  in  unwholesome  occupations,  in  prolonged  labor,  on 
which  their  support,  and  that  of  their  children  is  dependent 

2d.  Unjust  suspicion  attached  to  the  poor  man :  the  more 
he  is  in  want,  the  more  certain  he  is  of  being  refused  aid  and 
credit,  to  enable  him  to  turn  his  skill  or  labor  to  account. 

3d.  Fear  of  want  for  the  present,  or  danger  of  being  thrown 
out  of  work,  the  right  of  which  is  not  guaranteed  him  by 
society. 

4th.  Anticipated  suffering  for  the  future  ;  dread  of  an  in- 
crease of  evils  in  his  old  age,  heightened  by  the  recollection  of 
those  already  endured,  and  by  seeing  no  means  of  escaping 
from  them. 

5th.  New  evils  which  fall  upon  him,  and  increase  his  per- 
plexities, when  he  thought  fortune  had  done  her  worst. 

6th.  Communicated  suffering,  or  power  of  feeling  the  evils 
of  his  family,  whose  privations  add  to  his  own. 

7th.  Poor  and  destitute,  he  has  in  case  of  sickness,  no  other 
asylum  than  the  poor-house,  to  which  he  is  often  refused  ad- 
mittance. 

8th.  Relative  and  ideal  aggravation;  he  sees  some  few  of 
his  class,  who,  favored  by  an  unexpected  inheritance,  a  prize 
in  a  lottery  or  some  other  good  luck,  escape  from  their  poverty  ; 
these  exceptions  of  good  fortune  occur  from  time  to  time,  to 
excite  an  additional  impatience  on  the  part  of  the  mass  op- 
pressed by  want. 

9th.  Increase  of  the  privations  of  the  destitute  multitude 
with  the  increase  of  luxury,  which,  daily  inventing  new  meant 
of  enjoyment  for  the  rich,  tantalize  the  poor  with  the  display 
of  these  increased  means  of  enjoyment,  from  which  they  are 
shut  out 


DEFECTS   OF  INDUSTRY 

IGth.  Indirect  privation  of  the  protection  of  the  law  ;  no 
justice  for  th c  poor  man,  \vlio  cannot  undergo  the  expenses  of 
law-suits  against  a  rich  rival,  who  appeals  From  court  to  court. 

llth.  Depravity  of  politicians,  who,  strong  in  their  pro- 
testations of  devotedness  to  the  cause  of  the  people,  use  them 
as  tools  to  get  into  power,  distribute  all  offices  among  the 
leaders,  propose  no  useful  and  positive  ameliorations,  but 
leave  them  to  support  alone  the  labor  and  hardships  of  our  sub- 
versive societies. 

*x*  Lastly  the  fruit  of  the  labor  of  the  producer  is  very  often 
not  for  himself,  but  for  a  master  or  a  capitalist,  who,  without 
taking  any  part  in  his  toil,  receives  the  largest  share  of  its 
product. 

The  most  unfortunate  character  for  society  is  No.  11,  Poli- 
tical depravity,  or  political  ignorance,  as  it  entirely  neglects 
its  true  function,  which  is  the  amelioration  of  the  condition  of 
the  mass.  The  progress  of  mankind  up  to  the  present  time,  is 
owing  entirely  to  the  force  of  circumstances.  The  leaders  of 
society  have  merely  taken  advantage  of  those  circumstances, 
of  wars  and  revolutions,  to  attain  their  own  private  ends;  they 
have  co-operated  neither  directly  nor  intentionally  in  the  pro- 
gress which  has  thus  been  made,  and  which  is  the  result  of 
an  instinct,  placed  by  the  Divinity  in  man,  to  guide  him  sooner 
or  lat^r  to  the  attainment  of  his  destiny,  although  those  lead- 
ers might  refuse  to  aid  in  the  great  task. 

In  antiquity,  man  was  the  slave  of  man,  now  he  is  the  slave 
of  our  false  system  of  labor,  working  from  fourteen  to  sixteen 
hours  a-day  in  dirty  work-shops,  and  confined  manufactories  for  a 
scanty  subsistence.  Such  is  the  condition  of  the  laboring  classes 
of  all  civilized  countries,  where  time  has  produced  a  thick  po- 
pulation. With  this  state  of  things  before  us,  not  one  proposi- 
tion is  made  by  politicians  or  the  press  tending  to  real  and  ef- 
fective ameliorations.  The  more  intolerable  the  evils  under 
which  the  great  mass  labor,  the  more  violently  are  they  en- 
gaged in  their  sophistical  controversies.  The  question  is  not 


EXEPXISED    BY    ISOLATED  HOUSEHOLDS.  91 

how  tp.  introduce  reforms  in  inclustr}*,  which  would  >crve  the 
intere^to  of  .all  classes,  or  how  to  guarantee  our  populations 
against  suffering  and  want ;  but  it  is  the  triumph  of  a  party, 
by  which  a  few  leaders  only  are  to  be  benefited,  the  chances 
of  war  with  a  neighboring  nation,  or  the  breaking  down  of  some 
country  which  is  a  commercial  rival. 

The  politics  of  nations  is  severed  from  the  interests  of  labor, 
and  the  great  majority  of  beings  whose  days  are  spent  in  it 
If  the  populations  of  civilized  countries  find  work  enough  to 
shield  them  from  want,  the  fact  is  announced  with  exultation 
as  though  a  particular  privilege  was  extended  them.  And 
what  privilege  is  it  1 — to  sell  their  lives  for  a  bare  subsistence, 
too  happy  to  avoid  by  this  means  the  alternative  of  starvation. 
For  confirmation  of  the  fact,  we  have  only  to  look  at  England, 
France  and  Europe  in  general,  which  with  all  their  political 
science  cannot  guarantee  labor  to  their  populations  :  what  a 
comment  on  their  wisdom  ! 

After  so  many  quarrels  and  controversies  about  the  rights 
of  man,  both  politicians  and  philosophers  have  entirely  over- 
looked the  primordial  right,  that  which  besides  being  natural, 
is  of  absolute  necessity,  namely  the  Right  oj  Man  to  Labor. 
The  Creator,  in  placing  him  on  this  earth,  intended  of  course 
he  should  live :  as  labor  is  the  means,  its  right  is  implied  as 
a  consequence ;  but  this  pivotal  right,  without  which  all  others 
are  useless,  civilized  nations  cannot  guarantee  their  laboring 
classes.  Is  not  this  fault  alone  sufficient,  if  duly  considered, 
to  condemn  the  whole  circle  of  our  politics]  Most  certain! 
and  if  the  present  social  organization  cannot  secure  to  man  the 
right  to  labor,  so  as  to  guarantee  him  a  livelihood,  then  let 
the  social  organization  be  changed. 

Of  whatever  country  we  examine  the  politics,  we  find  it 
absorbed  in  superficial  controversies.  In  this,  for  example, 
commerce  and  the  currency  are  for  the  moment  the  most  pro  • 
minent  subjects.  But  money,  whether  paper  or  specie,  is  the 
mere  representative  of  the  products  of  industry  ;  it  is  only 


92  DEFECTS  OP   INDUSTRY,    &C. 

valuable  so  far  as  it  can  buy  houses,  food,  clothing  of  pleasures, 
and  can  render  the  possessor  independent  of  repugnant  labor. 
Instead  of  quarreling  about  the  amount  and  kind  of  represen- 
tative to  be  used  to  facilitate  the  exchanges  of  real  wealth,  is 
it  not  evident,  with  a  moment's  reflection,  that  it  would  be 
more  judicious  to  endeavor  to  increase  the  product  itself,  re- 
organize agriculture  and  manufactures,  (for  the  thing  is  pos- 
sible) so  that  they  would  yield  a  product  six-fold  that  which 
they  do  at  present  1 

One  of  the  great  illusions  of  the  day  is  an  increase  of  Banks, 
so  as  to  emit  two  dollars,  where  only  one  before  was  in  circula- 
tion. Would  not  the  real  aim,  the  increase  of  riches,  be  much 
more  effectually  attained,  if  two  bushels  of  wheat,  two  bales 
of  cotton  were  grown,  where  only  one  is  now  produced  1  Be- 
sides, if  bank  issues  be  increased  in  a  greater  ratio  than  the 
product  of  industry,  the  surplus  is  sure  to  be  invested  in  wild 
and  hazardous  schemes,  which,  yielding  no  return,  leave  those 
issues  without  any  values  for  their  redemption,  and  cause  those 
violent  fluctuations  of  which  1817.  '24,  and  '37  are  examples. 
But  the  conflict  of  interests,  which  exists  in  civilization,  in- 
duce certain  intermediate  classes,  who  have  the  exchanges  of 
products  in  their  hands,  to  desire  this  artificial  increase  of  ca- 
pital, as  it  gives  them  the  control  of  those  products,  and  en- 
sures them  fortunes  by  the  profits  they  levy  on  the  labor  of  others. 

In  good'  faith,  politicians,  if  you  thought  it  were  possible  to 
harmonize  the  passions,  instincts  and  characters,  would  not 
Association  and  combination  in  all  branches  of  industry,  di- 
recting appropriately  the  labor,  capital  and  talent  of  society 
to  the  best  advantage,  be  a  magnificent  scheme  ?  Is  it  not  an 
object  of  a  far  superior  order  to  the  questions  agitated  by  the 
various  political  parties,  which  have  appeared  upon,  and  dis- 
appeared from  the  scene  of  action?  How  miserably  slow,  how 
contested  on  all  sides,  and  of  what  piecemeal  application  are 
the  improvements  and  ameliorations  of  civilization,  when  com- 
pared with  the  gigantic  and  unanimous  ameliorations,  which 
could,  with  unity  of  action,  be  effected  in  Association  ! 


SERVITUDES   OF    LABOR   AND  ABOLITIONISM.  93 


CHAPTER  NINTH. 

SERVITUDES  OF  LABOR  AND  ABOLITIONISM. 

The  combat  of  our  fathers  was  for  Political  liberty,  let 
ours  be  for  Industrial  liberty,  through  the  means  of  attrac- 
tive industry.  Dean. 

Since  finance  has  become  a  science,  public  and  individual 
economy  is  much  more  occupied  with  money,  than  with  the 
lives  of  men.  Machines  are  daily  invented  for  the  abridge- 
ment of  labor,  but  none  for  the  purpose  of  sustaining  the  health 
of  the  workmen;  or  if  this  consideration  has  any  influence, 
it  is  only  a  secondary  question.  Lemontey. 

The  only  real  riches  are  Labor,  every  thing  else  is  but  the 
sign  or  abuse  of  it.  Lemontey. 

How  much  time  and  talent,  how  many  efforts  are  wasted 
in  fruitless  political  controversies,  while  Labor,  the  source 
of  riches,  of  national  prosperity,  the  daily  occupation  of  the 
vast  multitude,  ie  entirely  neglected,  left  in  its  present  rude 
and  brutal  state,  as  if  no  other  organization  than  the  exist- 
ing one  were  possible. 

If  we  lake  the  history  of  the  past  with  its  ceaseless 
wars,  with  its  preponderance  of  military  interests, 
as  a  standard  of  comparison,  we  may  consider  the 
career  of  this  country,  for  more  than  half  a  century, 
as  highly  successful!.  It  has  pursued  its  industrial 
interests — the  most  essential  to  society — with  a  con- 


94  SERVITUDES   OP  LABOR    AND  ABOLITIONISM. 

stancy  that  has  given  them  an  importance  over  all 
other  questions,  and  which  is  the  true  explanation  of 
its  rapid  progress,  and  its  rapidly  acquired  national 
importance. 

We  have  now  twenty-six  separate  States,  each 
with  its  local  administration,  acting  in  concert,  and 
with  perfect  political  unity,  although  the  greatest  di- 
versity of  soil,  climate  arid  interests  exists.  Had  we 
pursued  the  same  political  system  which  has  hereto- 
fore existed,  instead  of  twenty-six  United  States,  there 
would  have  been  a  multiplicity  of  separate  and  hos- 
tile republics  or  sovereignties,  which  would  sooner  or 
later  have  given  rise  to  conflicts  of  interests,  sectional 
jealousies  and  animosities,  that  must  in  time  have 
ended  in  wars,  absorbing  in  the  pay  of  standing  ar- 
mies, the  capital  we  have  invested  in  our  internal 
improvements.  The  greatest  complication  of  course 
would  have  arisen  from  such  a  political  organization, 
as  every  little  republic  would  have  had  its  separate 
system  of  tariffs,  custom-houses,  mails,  &c.  The  am- 
bition of  rulers  would  have  maintained  this  diversity  of 
interests,  and  to  defray  the  expenses  arising  from  it, 
industry  would  have  been  most  monstrously  taxed. 
Luckily  the  good  sense  of  the  people,  and  a  combina- 
tion of  circumstances  have  decreed  otherwise.  The 
policy  of  the  country  has  now  become  settled ;  it 
has  struck  into  a  track  which  it  has  pursued  with 
success ;  it  has  maintained  its  political  unity,  in- 
creased its  population,  extended  its  commerce,  car- 
ried on  its  system  of  internal  improvements,  and 


SERVITUDES   OF    LABOR    AND    ABOLITIONISM.  95 

thrown  open  to  individual  energy  a  broad  field  of 
action. 

In  pursuing  a  different  policy  from  European  na 
tions,  whose  action  is  embarrassed  by  their  various 
monarchical  and  aristocratic  interests,  and  remains 
of  institutions  of  the  middle  age,  we  have  acted  most 
\visely,  and  we  may  safely  say  that  a  spirit  of  im- 
provement, and  a  sentiment  of  the  rights  of  the  mass 
animate  this  country,  which  exist  no  where  else  as 
strongly. 

This  progress  on  our  part  is  important,  and  is 
worthy  of  all  praise.  Let  us  render  it  the  homage 
due  it,  but  let  us  not  suppose,  because  we  have  ameli- 
orated our  political  system,  and  because  we  have 
pursued  a  more  judicious  policy  than  older  nations, 
still  burdened  with  parasitic  interests,  that  we  have 
completed  the  entire  progress,  which  is  reserved  to 
man,  and  attained  social  perfection. 

Our  progress  is  Political,  not  Social.  Our  social 
mechanism,  the  fundamental  principles  of  our  society, 
are  the  same  as  those  of  Europe,  and  those  principles 
are  false.  Having  deviated  from  the  general  policy 
of  other  nations,  could  we  go  one  step  further,  and 
realize  a  change  in  the  social  mechanism  itself,  we 
should  then  accomplish  an  important  part  in  the 
history  of  the  world.  But  notwithstanding  our  po- 
litical innovations,  no  questions  unfortunately  of  a 
social  nature  are  discussed  with  us,  nor  is  the  public 
mind  in  the  least  directed  to  new  social  principles. 
Our  political  leaders,  aiming  at  administrative  re- 


96  SERVITUDES   OF   LABOR   AND   ABOLITIONISM. 

forms,  are  not  even  aware,  that  the  possibility  ex- 
ists in  the  nature  of  things  of  a  reform  in  the  mecha- 
nism of  society.  They  propose  no  change  of  sys- 
tem, such  as  the  substituting  of  agricultural  As- 
sociation in  the  place  of  agricultural  incoherence  or 
piece-meal  cultivation — the  present  mode  of  farming 
— combination  of  interests,  and  unity  of  industrial  re- 
lations, in  the  place  of  the  perpetual  conflicts,  which 
now  exist.  The  energies  of  the  people  are  so  ab- 
sorbed in  personal  or  party  interests,  that  their  at- 
tention is  withdrawn  from  real,  that  is  social  pro- 
gress. It  is  believed  that  the  society  in  which  we 
vegetate,  is  unchangeable,  that  the  evils  we  suffer  are 
attached  to  human  nature,  inseparable  from  it,  and 
independent  of  the  social  organization.  Although 
four  forms  of  society  have  existed  on  the  earth,  the 
Savage,  Patriarchal,  Barbarian,  and  Civilized,  still 
this  does  not  lead  to  the  apparently  simple  conclusion, 
that  a  fifth  or  a  sixth,  perhaps  more  happy  and  just, 
may  be  organized.  As  the  intellectual  activity  of  the 
country  is  not  at  all  directed  to  social  questions,  and 
to  a  change  of  system,  its  highest  hopes  for  the  fu- 
ture, its  ideal,  in  a  political  point  of  view,  can  only  be 
to  pursue  the  direction  it  has  chosen,  continue  its 
present  policy ,  and  avoid  with  the  greatest  care, 
violent  controversies  and  sectional  quarrels,  which 
may  break  it  up,  and  the  Union  also. 

So  far,  none  but  those  of  a  superficial  character 
have  arisen,  but  the  portentous  question  of  abolition 
comes  in  another  shape.  It  has  wrougth  in  its  dis- 


SERVITUDES   OF    LABOR    AtfD    ABOLITIONISM.  97 

cussion  religious  zeal  in  the  North,  and  is  opposed 
by  the  spirit  of  property  in  the  South.  These  two 
sentiments  are  as  irreconcilable  in  the  present  junc- 
ture, as  they  are  inflexible  in- the  human  mind. 

This  question  cannot  change  with  parties,  nor  with 
men,  because  it  is  based  on  convictions,  which  are 
among  the  fundamental,  political  and  religious  dog- 
mas of  society.  Slavery,  it  is  asserted,  is  an  in- 
fringement of  two  laws — of  Divine  law  which  pro- 
claims the  equality  of  human  nature  before  God,  and 
of  Human  law,  which  declares  an  equality  of  political 
rights.  These  convictions,  which  exist  more  or  less 
strongly  in  all  minds,  but  which  are  tempered  and 
balanced  by  the  thousand  other  interests  of  the  day, 
are  easily  roused  in  the  feelings  of  men  of  certain 
temperaments,  and  grow  to  fanaticism,  if  worked 
upon  constantly.  A  fanaticism,  based  on  these  con- 
victions, is  rapidly  spreading,  and  opposition  of 
course  will  strengthen  rather  than  weaken  it.  With- 
out doubt  slavery  is  false;  it  is  a  character  of  the 
third  or  barbarian  society,  which  has  been  retained, 
and  engrafted  on  the  civilized  social  mechanism; 
but  how  many  things  are  there  which  are  false  in 
civilization!  Its  whole  mechanism  is  false;  first,  in 
its  separate  or  isolated  households,  or  as  many  houses 
as  families,  producing  a  complication  twenty-times 
greater  than  necessary;  second,  in  its  incoherent  sys- 
tem of  industry,  causing  a  perpetual  conflict  of  all 
interests ;  thirdly,  in  the  absence  of  Association, 
economy  and  unity  in  all  its  relations.  Slavery  is 

7 


98  SERVITUDES   OF   LABOR    AND   ABOLITIONISM. 

one  of  its  defects;  but  it  is  not  the  foundation  of  social 
evil ;  it  is  only  an  accidental  character  ;  it  should  not 
therefore  be  attacked  first,  and  above  all  not  separ- 
ately. 

Nearly  the  whole  agricultural  industry  of  the 
South  is  dependent  upon  slavery,  hence  the  ques- 
tion is  so  momentous.  If  you  abolish  it  suddenly, 
you  infringe  on  a  great  many  other  rights,  which  are 
among  the  fundamental  ones  of -the  social  compact. 
A  conflict  of  principles  without  doubt  exists,  but  it 
only  proves  that  the  civilized  social  mechanism  is  a 
labyrinth  of  contradictions  and  conflicts  throughout. 
When  a  reform  becomes  necessary,  we  should  go  to 
the  foundation  of  evil,  before  attacking  the  super- 
structure. If  it  be  inquired  where  a  fundamental 
change  is  to  be  commenced,  we  answer,  in  agricul- 
ture, which  as  the  primary  branch  of  industry,  as 
the  principal  source  of  riches,  is  the  basis  of  the  social 
order.  The  root  of  evil  is  in  our  incoherent  system 
of  industry,  carried  on  by  isolated  individuals  with 
hostile  and  conflicting  interests ;  replace  it  by  a  sys- 
tem of  agricultural  Association,  productive  of  unity 
and  combination,  and  the  problem  is  solved.  No 
branch,  slavery  for  example,  can  be  attacked  se- 
parately without  producing  commotions;  but  agricul- 
tural Association,  which  would  replace  the  desultory 
action  of  individuals  by  the  combined  efforts  of  mas- 
ses, distribute  judiciously  and  appropriately  the  capa- 
city, talent  and  labor  of  the  different  sexes  and  ages, 
introduce  method  and  a  scientific  system  of  cultiva- 


SERVITUDES   OF   LABOR   AND   ABOLITIONISM.          99 

tion  in  the  place  of  waste  and  ignorance,  would  con- 
flict with  no  rights  or  principles,  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, would  forward  greatly  the  interests  and  wel- 
fare of  all  classes,  both  rich  and  poor. 

On  the  question  of  slavery,  the  South  will  not  of 
course  remain  passive;  its  slaves  are  its  productive 
property,  its  active  wealth.  To  suppose  that  a  whole 
country  will  sacrifice  practical  benefits,  acquired  ad- 
vantages, to  questions  of  a  political  or  other  nature, 
which  do  not  come  home  to  the  feelings  of  men  like 
the  interests  of  property  and  a  guarantee  of  a  worldly 
existence,  remains  to  be  proved  by  some  other  his- 
tory than  that  of  the  past.  The  principle  of  property 
cannot  be  attacked  in  the  Soulh  without  jeoparding 
in  an  imminent  degree  our  political  union;  if  the 
Abolitionists  can  spread  their  views  and  strengthen 
their  party,  so  as  to  give  it  a  preponderance  over 
the  opposing  fractions  of  other  parties,  and  if,  when 
they  have  obtained  this  power,  they  proceed  to  carry 
out  practically  their  principles,  the  South  may  deem 
it  expedient  1o  secede  from  the  North, — and  the  Union 
ceases  !  After  the  withdrawal  of  the  South,  after 
securing  itself  against  the  spreading  of  these  doc- 
trines, which  it  considers  hostile  to  its  peace  and  in- 
dustry, so  as  to  allow  them  no  access  under  any  form, 
what  then  has  the  abolition  party  of  the  North  to  do? 
Will  it  remain  quiet  and  abandon  its  object,  or  to 
what  means  will  it  resort  to  carry  out  its  views? 

Should  a  separation  take  place,  and  were  the  Abo- 
litionists to  abstain  from  further  action,  it  is  prob- 

7* 


100          SERVITUDES    OF    LABOR    AND    ABOLITIONISM. 

able  that  this  division  would  sooner  or  later  result  in 
misunderstandings,  quarrels  and  perhaps  even  war. 
It  is  possible  we  might  fall  back  in  the  old  track, 
which  has  heretofore  been  pursued  by  nations,  and 
go  so  far  as  to  act  over  even  a  part  of  the  history  of 
the  past,  and  add  one  more  page  to  the  bloody  an- 
nals of  the  human  race.  Such  a  fatal  result  should 
be  guarded  against  with  the  greatest  care. 

The  foreboding  question  of  abolition,  which  arises 
so  portentous  on  our  political  horizon,  cannot  be 
met  and  solved  by  present  means;  it  requires  those 
of  Association  and  Attractive  industry.  That  men 
are  ignorant  of  their  destiny,  and  of  the  great  work 
they  could  accomplish  on  this  earth,  is  proved,  on 
the  one  hand,  by  their  trifling  political  controversies, 
and  by  their  readiness  to  embark  in  strife  and  blood- 
shed on  the  most  trivial  subjects;  and  on  the  other, 
by  their  apathetic  resignation  to  evils  time  has  sanc- 
tioned, and  to  the  monotony,  misery  and  injustice 
of  our  subversive  societies. 

The  discussion  of  an  important  question  like  this, 
should  have  led  to  an  examination  of  the  various 
kinds  of  slavery  which  exist,  and  to  the  question,  whe- 
ther the  black  population  of  the  South  is  the  only 
portion  of  the  human  race  whose  rights  are  plun- 
dered, and  whose  natures  are  degraded.  It  may  safe- 
ly be  said,  that  the  want  of  success  attending  the  ef- 
forts which  have  been  made  to  abolish  slavery,  is 
to  be  attributed  to  the  absence  of  a  true  social  sci- 
ence on  the  part  of  those  who  have  undertaken  it. 


SERVITUDES   OF   LABOR    AND    ABOLITIONISM.  101 

The  first  and  preparatory  step,  an  enumeration  and 
definition  of  the  kinds  of  slavery  to  be  abolished,  has 
not  even  taken  place.  We  will  give  a  list  of  eight : 

SERVITUDES   TO    BE    ABOLISHED. 

1.  Native  slavery. 

2.  Slavery  of  prisoners  taken  in  war.    (Custom  of 

ancient  nations,  who  drew  their  laborers  in 
part  from  this  source.) 

3.  Slave  trade,  and  exportation  of  slaves. 

4.  Sale  and  seclusion  of  women  in  seraglios. 

5.  Servitude  of  the  soil  or  feudal  bondage. 

6.  Military  conscriptions. 

7.  Perpetual  monastic  vows. 

X   INDIGENCE,  OR  FASSIVE   AND  INDIRECT    SERVITUDE. 

"  By  abolishing  indigence,  the  source  of  them  all, 
the  seven  proceeding  would  be  done  away  with  at 
the  same  time;  when  the  trunk  is  cut,  the  branches 
fall  with  it.  The  abolishing  of  all  kinds  of  slavery 
may  be  reduced  to  the  prevention  of  indigence. 

"  The  only  measures  which  have  been  employed 
against  slavery,  are  violence,  simple  liberation  and 
individual  purchases.  Those  against  the  slave  trade, 
are  seizures  and  confiscations  of  slave  ships;  they 
have  not  only  failed,  but  have  increased  the  suffer- 
ings of  the  slaves  in  three  ways : 

'•  1st.  Double  and  treble  increase  of  human  vic- 
tims at  funeral  ceremonies  in  Africa,  owing  to  the 
low  price  of  unsold  slaves. 


102          SERVITUDES   OF    LABOR    AND  ABOLITIONISM. 

"  2d.  Increase  of  torture  and  suffering  on  board  of 
vessels,  in  secreting  the  slaves  in  case  of  search. 

"  3d.  Increased  demand  of  labor  by  masters,  to 
compensate  for  the  high  price  of  slaves. " 

In  abolishing  slavery  in  the  South,  two  guarantees 
should  be  insisted  upon  :  first,  guarantee  to  the  whites 
against  a  violation  of  the  right  of  persons  and  pro- 
perty; second,  guarantee  of  persistance  in  labor  on 
the  part  of  the  freed  negroes.  These  two  conditions 
would  give  the  discussion  of  this  question  a  very  dif- 
ferent character  from  what  it  now  possesses. 

Why  should  not  the  strong  philanthropic  feeling, 
which  exists  for  a  few  negroes  of  the  South,  be  ex- 
tended to  the  white  laboring  populations  of  civilized 
countries,  which  are  so  much  more  numerous  ?  Their 
constancy  in  labor,  the  responsibility  and  anxiety 
imposed  upon  them  by  the  care  of  families,  their  re- 
spect for  property  and  order  under  all  the  poverty 
and  privations  they  undergo,  merit  in  the  highest 
degree  the  attention  of  those,  who  feel  an  interest  in 
the  amelioration  of  the  social  condition  of  man. 

But  little  can  be  expected  from  individual  philan- 
thropy; it  is  the  mere  germ  of  social  good;  it  must 
be  extended,  universalised  to  be  valuable;  if  it  is  not, 
it  degenerates  into  fanaticism  on  some  one  point,  and 
its  efforts  are  wasted  in  the  conflicts  of  opposing  in- 
terests. True,  that  is,  collective  philanthropy  em- 
bracing the  entire  earth,  and  the  interests  of  all  those 
who  are  oppressed ;  applying  collective  and  general, 


SERVITUDES   OF  LABOR    AND  ABOLITIONISM.          103 
i 

instead  of  individual  measures  of  relief,  would  be  a 
valuable  lever  of  social  justice  ;  but  the  philanthropy 
of  the  day  is  decidedly  individual,  and  it  will  there- 
fore, we  fear,  exhaust  its  efforts  without  aiding  es- 
sentially the  cause  of  mankind. 

Before  concluding  our  observations  on  this  question, 
let  us  remark  that  Man,  SOCIALLY  CONSIDERED,  starts 
falsely  in  his  career :  he  REQUIRES  the  products  of  labor, 
but  he  WISHES  to  avoid  its  drudgery ;  with  the  false- 
ness and  duplicity  of  this  commencement,  it  is  easy  to 
foresee  the  results  which  must  follow.  In  some  societies, 
the  barbarian,  a  few  by  the  force  of  the  sword  raise 
themselves  above  the  mass,  whom  they  enslave  and  rob 
of  the  product  of  their  toil.  In  other  societies,  in  civiliza- 
tion,a  very  small  minority,  favored  with  knowledge  and 
capital  or  other  privileges,  which  the  mass  do  not  pos- 
sess, manage  no  less  effectually  to  appropriate  to  them- 
selves the  product  of  their  labor,  in  which  they  take 
no  part.  Thus,  our  subversive  societies  alternate  only 
in  the  mode  of  their  injustice ;  but  injustice  never 
ceases  to  be  their  fundamental  character. 

SLAVERY  is  NOT  AN  ISOLATED  FACT,  A  SINGLE  BLOT 
UPON  OUR  SOCIAL  ORDER  ;  it  is  a  symptom,  a  part  of  a 
vast  social  malady,  which  is  much  deeper  than  is  sup- 
posed;  and  which  must  be  cured  to  eradicate  the  num- 
berless evils,  (one  of  which  Slavery  is),  which  are  the 
disgrace  and  scourge  of  human  societies.  That  mala- 
dy is  REPUGNANT  INDUSTRY.  If  labor  be  re- 
pulsive, degrading  and  but  poorly  rewarded  how  are 


104         SERVITUDES   OF   LABOR   AND   ABOLITIONISM. 

the  mass  to  be  forced  to  it  otherwise  than  by  CON- 
STRAINT ?  Constraint  is  the  hideous  means  which 
society  has  made  use  of  to  insure  production,  and  the 
creation  of  riches;  it  acts  with  a  two-fold  pov:er,  one  of 
which  is  the  whip  and  punishments,  the  other  want 
and  privations.  In  antiquity  we  find  slavery  almost 
universal,  and  the  lash  and  violence  were  the  active 
agents,  the  stimulants  of  its  industry  ;  in  the  middle 
ages  we  see  the  same  system  continued,  except  that  the 
slaves  became  serfs;  and  by  being  attached  to  the  soil 
instead  of  to  the  individual,  their  condition  was  ame- 
liorated, and  the  means  were  afforded  them  of  their  en- 
franchisement. In  modern  civilized  countries,  we  find 
existing  here  and  there  the  slavery  of  the  negi-o  race  ; 
wherever  this  institution  exists,  the  fear  of  punish- 
ments is  still  the  stimulant  to  labor ;  where  it  does  not, 
want  and  necessity  take  its  place. 

If  labor  be  repulsive,  repugnant,  man  will  not  under- 
go it,  unless  he  be  forced  to  it;  society,  therefore,  TO 
GUARANTEE  the  persistance  of  the  mass  in  labor,  must 
reduce  them  to  want,  force  them  to  it  by  their  own  ne- 
cessities, and  by  those  of  their  families.  Thus,  the  very 
,  foundation  of  our  societies  is  injustice  and  oppression; 
and  if  we  disguise  this  false  basis  with  a  little  political 
liberty,  social  evils  and  social  servitude  are  not  the 
less  its  results.  The  changes  which  have  taken  place 
in  the  condition  of  the  laboring  classes  since  the  com- 
mencement of  societies,  have  only  been  so  many  varie- 
ties of  one  general  tyranny,  at  one  epoch  we  see  them 
Farias,  at  another  Slaves,  at  another  Serfs,  and  now 


SERVITUDES   OF    LABOR    AND    ABOLITIONISM.  105 

they  are  the  working,  classes.  Individual  slavery,  as 
it  universally  existed  in  antiquity,  has  been  changed 
and  replaced  by  the  collective  servitude  of  the  mass 
in  modern  times. 

He,  who  proposes  a  fundamental  change  in  socie- 
ty, should  propose  a  plan  for  accomplishing  it,  which 
would  conflict  with  the  interests  and  prejudices  of 
no  portion  of  the  community.  It  may  seem  exaggera- 
tion, but  we  assert  that  agricultural  Association  is 
the  only  means  of  a  thorough,  prompt  and  peaceable 
reform.  If  Association  were  introduced  into  this  fun- 
damental branch  of  industry,  it  would  soon  be  ap- 
plied to  manufactures  and  mechanics,  and  would  lead 
to  an  Association  of  our  isolated  and  separate  fami- 
lies, whose  hostile  and  conflicting  interests  are  the 
principle  of  disunion ,  complication  and  poverty. 
Nothing  can  be  done,  so  long  as  this  state  of  things 
exists;  no  administrative  or  other  reforms  can  be  of 
permanent  benefit,  where  the  foundation  is  so  de- 
fective. If  men  were  united,  if  their  pecuniary  or 
material  interests  were  associated,  it  would  be  easy 
to  introduce  a  perfect  understanding  in  their  personal 
and  private  interests,  as  well  as  in  political  and  ad- 
ministrative questions.  Unity  of  action,  the  first  im- 
portant result  obtained,  would  produce  most  brilliant 
effects;  a  new  era,  a  new  state  of  things  would  com- 
mence; a  vast  field  would  be  opened  to  the  activity 
of  man,  and  he  would  escape  from  the  conflicts  and 
antagonism  of  our  present  societies,  which  so  cramp 
and  waste  his  energies  and  efforts. 


106         SERVITUDES   OF    LABOR    AND    ABOLITIONISM. 

A  change  in  the  social  condition  of  mankind,  with 
the  present  development  of  their  intellectual  faculties, 
which  enables  them  to  comprehend  the  evils  they 
labor  under,  is  becoming  absolutely  necessary.  It 
is  to  be  desired,  that  such  a  change  should  commence 
peaceably,  and  in  such  a  way  as  to  pacify  all  op- 
position. Agricultural  Association  admirably  fulfills 
these  conditions ;  its  first  result  would  be  to  satisfy 
the  most  universal  of  desires,  that  of  riches ;  it  would 
banish  the  scourge  of  indigence  from  the  earth,  for- 
ward the  interests  of  all  classes  in  so  doing,  shock 
no  opinions  of  a  moral  or  religious  nature,  cause  no 
political  commotions,  and  no  revolutions  or  blood- 
shed. It  may  seem  surprising,  that  so  simple  and 
modest  an  undertaking  should  bring  about  such  vast 
results,  but  it  is  not  more  so,  than  that  it  should  have 
entirely  escaped,  up  to  the  present  day,  the  atten- 
tion of  the  scientific  world.  So  many  discoveries, 
however,  as  simple  as  they  were  important,  have 
been  neglected,  that  this  like  others  must  be  classed 
among  the  oversights  of  genius.  The  circulation 
of  the  blood  was  discovered  by  Harvey  only  220 
years  since  ;  the  mariner's  compass,  and  two  trifles 
like  the  stirrup  and  the  carriage  spring,  unknown 
to  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  are  comparatively  of 
late  date.  Such  examples  prove  that  inventions, 
however  important  and  simple,  are  apt  to  be  over- 
looked ;  and  because  Association  has  not  yet  been 
discovered,  its  practicability  for  that  reason  should 
not  be  denied. 


SERVITUDES   OF    LABOR    AND    ABOLITIONISM.          107 

If  agricultural  Association  opened  a  new  avenue 
to  wealth,  and  proved  the  means  of  introducing  great 
improvements  into  industry,  it  would  spread  peace- 
ably but  rapidly,  like  the  steamboat,  the  mariner's 
compass,  the  art  of  printing  or  any  other  invention 
of  prompt  and  practical  benefit  to  all.  Its  commence- 
ment— and  it  soon  would  become  an  all  absorbing 
movement — is  within  the  power  of  any  of  our  State 
Legislatures,  and  of  at  least  a  thousand  capitalists 
in  the  United  States. 

A  SOCIAL  CHANGE,  as  we  have  said,  is  NECESSARY  ;  if 
men  were  convinced  of  this  fact,  the  problem  would 
be  half  solved.  It  is  not  political  and  administrative 
reforms  that  we  require,  but  it  is  a  reform  in  the 
organization  of  society  itself,  and  first  of  all  in  labor 
or  industry.  The  present  system,  monotonous  and 
repugnant  in  the  extreme,  is  most  wretched;  still  it 
is  the  unavoidable  lot  of  the  great  mass,  who  have 
to  toil  through  poverty  and  suffering,  and  a  weary 
existence.  Absorbed  by  their  daily  occupations,  and 
without  the  requisite  knowledge,  they  cannot  speak 
for  themselves ;  the  great  and  the  rich  wrapped  up 
in  their  selfishness,  remain  indifferent  and  silent ;  it 
is  therefore  left  to  the  few,  who  feel  and  comprehend 
social  evil,  and  who  have  faith  in  a  better  future,  to 
stand  forth  and  advocate  the  great  cause  of  a  social 
reform,  and  raise  their  voices  for  the  millions  of  their 
fellow  creatures,  who  suffer  silent  and  unheeded. 

The  history  of  the  past  has  been  a  history  of  op- 
pression, strife  and  privation;  let  us  hope  that  it  is 


108         SERVITUDES   OF   LABOR   AND   ABOLITIONISM. 

not  to  be  renewed  and  that  the  long  probation  of 
the  human  family  is  over.  Let  us  see  no  more  the 
poverty  of  masses,  or  the  wars  of  nations;  let  us  see 
no  more  men's  efforts  and  energies  spent  in  carnage, 
their  blood  soaked  up  by  the  neglected  soil,  which 
demands  cultivation  and  fertility  at  their  hands.  A 
renewal  of  all  these  scenes  would  only  be  a  renewal 
of  misery  and  folly.  A  higher  destiny  is  reserved 
for  humanity ! 

Man  is  the  Overseer  of  this  earth ;  it  is  a  noble 
domain  confided  to  his  care;  his  providential  destina- 
tion is  to  enrich  and  beautify  it,  take  its  soil,  plants 
and  animals,  in  the  rude  state  left  by  nature,  and  give 
them, all  the  development  and  perfection,  of  which 
they  are  capable.  This,  and  the  integral  cultivation 
of  the  planet  are  trusts  especially  confided  to  his 
strength  and  intellect.  In  fulfilling  them,  he  carries 
out  an  important  part  of  the  intentions  of  the  Creator, 
and  on  this  foundation  could  the  full  development 
of  all  his  faculties  and  powers,  and  the  attainment 
of  his  happiness,  take  place.  If  mankind  would  as- 
sociate in  their  energy  and  genius,  how  grandly 
could  these  objects  be  accomplished ! 

We  enumerated  above  eight  kinds  of  slavery  and 
servitudes,  which  exist  upon  the  earth.  Confining 
ourselves  to  our  own  social  order,  called  Civilization, 
we  will  proceed  to  examine  the  servitudes  connected 
with  labor,  as  it  is  now  prosecuted  or  exercised,  and 
point  out  briefly  the  difference  between  Civil  and  In- 


SERVITUDES   OF    LABOR    AND    ABOLITIONISM.          109 

dustrial  liberty  ;  the  first  of  which  has  been  the  sub- 
ject of  controversy  and  contention  for  five  and  twen- 
ty centuries  past,  while  the  existence  of  the  latter, 
far  more  important,  has  not  been  suspected. 

With  the  aid  of  our  revolution  and  the  good  sense 
of  the  people,  this  country  has  obtained  Civil  Liber- 
ty, and  we  enjoy  it  in  as  high  a  degree,  as  is  com- 
patible with  the  civilized  social  mechanism.  But 
civil  liberty  dods  not  embrace  the  entire  field  of  hu- 
man or  social  liberty;  it  is  only  a  secondary  half  of 
it.  Politicians,  having  discovered  no  other,  have 
looked  on  the  attainment  of  this  single  branch,  as  the 
ultimatum  of  social  progress. 

Labor  is  the  lot  of  the  vast  majority  of  human  be- 
ings; iheir  days  are  spent  in  it ;  they  are  constrained 
to  toil  and  drudge,  because  stern  necessity,  which 
they  would  wish  to  avoid,  forces  them  to  it.  Labor, 
as  it  is  carried  on  in  civilization,  based  on  constraint 
and  indirect  compulsion,  forming  a  perfect  system  of 
Industrial  Servitude,  cannot  be  called  Liberty !  Nor 
is  a  being  FREE,  who  is  FORCED  to  wear  out  his  life 
in  it,  because  the  alternative — starvation  or  want — 
is  more  terrible  in  his  eyes,  than  the  bondage  he  re- 
signs himself  to.  If  it  be  asserted,  that  labor  cannot 
be  carried  on  otherwise  than  by  all  the  compulsory 
means  now  resorted  to,  it  must  be  acknowledged,  as 
a  consequence,  that  the  Creator  has  given  us  only 
one  half  the  liberty,  which  we  are  capable  of  enjoy- 
ing, and  that  he  has  neglected  placing  wilhin  our 


1  10         SERVITUDES   OF   LABOR   AND    ABOLITIONISM. 

power  the  means  of  satisfying  those  strong  aspira- 
tions, which  he  has  implanted  in  our  natures. 

It  is  evident,  that  all  endeavor  to  avoid  the  neces- 
sity of  labor,  and  to  render  themselves  independent 
of  it: — to  force  the  mass  to  it,  seven  more  or  less 
coercive  measures,  some  oppressing  actively,  some 
passively,  are  resorted  to,  which  render  our  entire 
system  of  industry  monotonous  and  repugnant  in  the 
extreme,  oppressive  to  personal  liberty,  and  in  dis- 
cord with  the  free  will  and  option  of  man. 

COERCIVE    MEASURES,    ON    WHICH    INDUSTRY    IS     BASED    IN 
CIVILIZATION. 

1st.  SLAVERY.  Violent  tyrannical  measure,  mak- 
ing use  of  punishments,  as  the  means  of  enforcing 
work.  It  is  a  character  borrowed  from  the  bar- 
barian society,  but  does  not  the  less  exist  among  ci- 
vilized nations. 

2d.  SERVILE  AID,  or  that  of  hired  persons,  indif- 
ferent, careless  and  without  emulation;  working  for 
a  stipend,  and  doing  the  least  possible,  and  that  badly, 
in  their  paid  day's  labor.  This  opposition  of  inte- 
rests is  an  example  of  the  conflict  of  the  individual 
with  the  collective  interest,  an  essential  character  of 
civilization. 

3d.  DISCIPLINE  and  OBLIGATORY  STATUTES — mea- 
sures resorted  to  by  monastic  societies,  by  the  Mo- 
ravian brothers,  Shakers,  Rappites  and  others. 

4th.  CORPORATE  MONOPOLIES,  or  leagues  of  privi- 
ledged  monopolizers,  controlling  the  distribution  ot 


SERVITUDE     OF    LABOR    AND    ABOLITIONISM.          Ill 

labor,  and  excluding  those  often,  who  possess  the 
most  skill  and  talent. 

5th.  INDUSTRIAL  PRISONS,  or  large  closed  manufac- 
luries,  in  which  the  workmen  are  subjected  to  strict 
discipline,  the  children  ill  treated,  and  the  health  of 
both  often  ruined  by  excess  of  labor  without  variety. 
To  this  semi-slavery  is  to  be  added  the  anxiety  and 
fear  of  want  by  being  thrown  out  of  employ. 

6th.  POOR-HOUSE  AND  PENITENTIARY  LABOR,  compris- 
ing every  kind,  which  is  the  effect  of  compulsion  or 
condemnation,  from  that  of  alms  and  poor-houses, 
down  to  that  of  State  prisons  and  Galleys. 

7th.  FALSE  COMPETITION  among  laborers,  mechanics 
and  merchants,  exciting  an  envious  rivalry,  which 
induces  them  to  injure  each  by  reducing  their  wages 
and  profits,  and  leaves  them  very  often  no  other 
means  of  gain  than  frauds  upon  the  public. 

All  these  coercive  measures,  destructive  of  indi- 
vidual independence,  arc  the  means  made  use  of  to 
force  the  mass  to  labor  ;  and  politicians  talk  cf  liber- 
ty, when  industry,  from  which  the  vast  majority 
draw  their  existence  and  in  which  they  spend  their 
lives,  is  based  on  a  system  so  compulsory  and  indi- 
rectly tyrannical ! 

This  system  of  industrial  servitude  is  the  lot  of  the 
laboring  classes  of  the  fourth  society,  called  Civiliza- 
tion. But  its  falseness  does  not  end  here ;  to  it  is 
added  the  violation  of  the  fundamental  right  of  man, 
THE  RIGHT  TO  LABOR.  As  we  have  observed  in  a 
former  chapter,  if  man  were  created  to  go  through  a 


112          SERVITUDES   OF    LABOR    AND    ABOLITIONISM. 

course  of  existence,  which  is  dependent  on  labor,  if 
its  right  be  not  guaranteed  him,  his  right  to  existence 
even  is  not  acknowledged. 

If  we  look  at  the  cities  of  civilized  Europe — and 
some  times  at  our  own — we  see  the  laboring  classes 
wandering  from  manufactory  to  manufactory,  or  shop 
to  shop,  inquiring  for  work  and  refused  it.  Without 
any  means  of  existence  while  out  of  employ,  pressed 
by  want,  often  by  starvation,  they  reduce  the  price 
of  their  day's  labor,  selling  fourteen  and  more  hours 
of  monotonous  drudgery  out  of  each  twenty-four  for 
a  miserable  pittance.  If  they  manage  to  avoid  actual 
famine,  slow  starvation,  unhealthy  and  excessive  la- 
bor and  anxiety,  sow  the  seeds  of  disease,  undermine 
the  constitution,  and  counteract  the  healthy  influence, 
which  labor  should  have  on  the  human  frame. 

To  creatures  thus  situated,  what  mockery  to 
offer  them  the  right  to  vote,  or  the  guarantee  of  not 
being  thrown  into  prison  without  a  writ  of  habeas- 
corpus!  Are  they  free,  because  they  possess  these 
illusory  guarantees,  when  they  are  at  the  same  time 
the  slaves  of  labor,  the  serfs  of  capitalists?  It  is  true, 
the  whip  does  not  force  them  to  labor,  like  the  real 
slave ;  but  does  not  the  alternative  of  want  or  fa- 
mine do  it  as  effectually  ?  If  their  bodies  cannot  be 
sold,  they  have  to  bargain  their  liberty  and  their  time, 
without  being  able  to  dispose  scarcely  of  an  hour.  No  : 
Civil  liberty  is  perfectly  illusory  without  Industrial 
liberty;  it  is  a  step-stone,  a  mere  means  of  enabling 
man  to  attain  to  his  destiny.  Possessing  Civil 


SERVITUDES   OF   LABOR   A&D   ABOLITIONISM.          113 

1'U  u      •     r         *      j-  n  r 

liberty,  he  is  free  to  discuss  all  measures  of  a  social 
reform,  and  the  principles  of  a  true  social  organiza 
tion;  it  should  be  made   use  of,  and  applied  to  this 
purpose;  if  not,  it  degenerates  into  party  contro 
versy,  sows  the  seeds  of  violent  contentions,  and  after 
running  its  course,  sinks  into  the  political  tyranny, 
out  of  which  it  emerged. 

One  of  the  implied  objects  of  this  work  in  its  criti- 
cism of  the  present  social  organization,    is  to  prove 
the  entire  absence  of  Industrial  liberty;  in  treating 
later  of  a  reorganization  of  labor,  we  will  show  the 
means  of  obtaining  it.     It  is  sufficient  to  say  for  the 
present,  that  it  can  only  exist  in  a  system  of  Associa- 
tion, based  on  ATTRACTIVE  INDUSTRY,  affording  every 
individual  the  option  of  a  great  many  branches  of, 
work,  with  varied  and  frequent  changes,  guarantee 
ing  him  a  sufficiency  of  food,  raiment  and  lodging,  and 
giving  to  the  material  organization  of  labour  thegreat 
est  elegance  and  facility  possible.   When  the  passions, 
now  reputed  our  enemies,  arc  directed  towards  in 
dustrial  occupations,  instead  of  war    and   political 
controversy,  we  will  find  them  precious  springs  of 
action;  and  when  labor  is  performed  by  groups  of 
friends,    freely    united,  varying    their    occupations 
through  the  day,  to  prevent  monotony  and  satiety; 
and  when  industry  is  enobled,  as  war,  the  magistra 
cy  and  science  have  been,  we  will  sec  that  attrac 
tive  Industry  is  not  a  dream  of  perfection,  but  an 
immense  benefit  reserved  for  us  by  the  Creator,  and 
attainable  whenever  we  shall  cease  abusing  the  pas 

8 


114         SERVITUDES   OF    LABOR    AND  ABOLITIONISM. 

sions,  his  most  perfect  work,  and  proceed  to  study 
their  nature,  and  a  social  mechanism  adapted  to  them. 
This  mechanism  is  to  be  found  in  the  law  of  Groups 
and  Series  of  Groups,  the  law  according  to  which 
the  Greater  distributes  all  harmonies  of  the  universe. 
The  movement  of  Planets,  the  creation  of  different 
classes  of  animals,  plants  and  minerals,  each  class 
or  family  forming  a  group,  the  harmony  of  sounds, 
colors,  etc.,  are  all  based  upon  this  great  principle. 
Instead  of  studying  and  applying  it  to  the  passions, 
moralists,  philosophers  and  legislators  have  looked 
upon  them  as  depraved  and  vicious,  and  have  de- 
clared them,  through  ignorance,  incapable  of  good. 
Seeing  them  falsely  developed  in  the  civilized  social 
mechanism,  and  struck  with  the  evils  they  produce, 
they  have  concluded,  that  repression  was  the  only 
means  of  obtaining  order  and  justice ;  and  instead 
of  inquiring  whether  some  social  mechanism  could 
not  be  discovered,  which  would  make  use  of  ALL  those 
passions,  as  they  were  created,  they  have  persisted 
in  their  conclusion,  and  directed  their  efforts  to  the 
organization  of  a  vast  system  of  compression,  the 
principle  levers  of  which  are  scaffolds,  prisons,  gib- 
bets, exiling,  branding  and  fines,  causing  an  im- 
mense expense  to  society,  and  resulting  only  in  a 
social  chaos,  which  under  the  four  different  forms  of 
the  savage,  patriarchal,  barbarian  and  civilized  so- 
cieties, has  been  a  scourge  to  the  earth,  and  a  dis- 
grace to  the  genius  of  man! 


GROUPS   AND   SERIES.  115 

':'    I:'-' 


CHAPTER  TENTH. 


GROUPS    AND    SERIES. 

Labor !  it  is  a  vast  question,  which  for  its  solution  de- 
mands a  new  and  a  high  science. 

(It  is  the  science  of  cultivation,  analogous  to  Nature  ; 

series  of  Groups  of  cultivators  as  well  as  of  vegetables.) 
To  assert  that  labor  is  not  the  destiny  of  man,  is  to  deny 
evidence :  to  assert  that  labor  is  the  destiny  of  man,  and 
that  it  cannot  become  for  him  a  source  of  happiness,  is  to 
calumniate  the  Creator. 

There  must  then  be  two  laws  for  labor  :  the  law  of  con- 
straint, which  comes  from  human  ignorance ;  the  law  of 
charm  and  attraction,  which  is  the  intention  of  the  Divini- 
ty ;  hence  two  results :  misery  or  riches ;  oppression  or  li- 
berty. C.  Vigoureux. 

It  is  time  the  world  should  ponder  over  the  vast  problem 
of  Attractive  Industry,  and  the  injustice  done  the  producer. 

Dean. 

A  Group  signifies  a  squad,  company  or  a  little 
corporation ;  it  is  an  assemblage  of  persons,  three, 
seven,  twelve  or  more,  freely  and  spontaneously 
united  for  any  purpose,  either  of  business  or  pleasure. 
But  in  strict  theory,  we  understand  by  Group  a  mass 
leagued  together  from  identity  of  taste  for  the  exer- 
cise of  some  branch  of  Industry ',  Science  or  Art. 
Friends,  for  example,  united  for  the  purpose  of  hunt- 

8* 


116  GROUPS    AKTD    SERIES. 

ing  and  fishing,  compose  a  Group :  there  is  of  course 
identity  of  taste  for  the  occupation,  which  is  a  pri- 
mary^ requisite  ;  if  sympathy  of  character  exists  be- 
tween them,  the  pleasure  of  the  Group  is  hightened. 
In  civilization  \ve  see  fire  companies,  volunteer  mili- 
tary companies,  boat  clubs,  hunting  matches,  which 
unite  some  few  characteristics,  which  the  mechanism 
of  the  Groups  would  elicit,  such  as  rivalry,  voluntary 
co-operation,  uniforms,  banners  and  music.  The 
emulation  and  enthusiasm  excited  by  such  means, 
give  a  great  zest  and  activity  to  their  occupation?. 
The  ardour  of  a  Group  depends  upon  its  distribution, 
the  degree  of  friendship  existing  between  its  mem- 
bers, and  the  strength  of  their  love  or  passion  for  the 
objects  which  they  pursue. 

A  Group  must  be  composed  of  at  least  three  per- 
sons, so  as  to  form  a  centre  and  two  urings  or  ex- 
ir ernes  ;  and  be  so  distributed,  that  the  centre  will 
maintain  an  equilibrium  between  the  two  extremes. 
Two  are  a  false  Group  and  are  not  available  in  so- 
cial harmony.  Three  are  the  lowest  number  admis- 
sible, and  then  they  form  a  Sub-group  only  ;  a  full 
Group  must  be  composed  of  seven  persons  at  least, 
because  it  must  admit  of  three  subdivisions  or  Sub- 
groups, the  centre  one  of  which  should  be  stronger 
than  the  extremes,  between  which  it  has  to  maintain 
a  balance.  A  Group  of  seven  persons  furnishes  the 
three  following  divisions,  2,  3,  2,  (three  persons 
in  the  centre  and  two  at  each  wing),  applied  to  three 
parts  or  parcels  of  a  branch  of  industry.  In  this  case 


GROUPS    A!tt>    SERIES.  117 

the  Group  of  two,  although  false  in  isolated  action, 
becomes  admissible  by  being  connected  with  others. 

If  the  centre  Group,  composed  of  three  persons, 
balances  the  Sub-groups,  2  and  2,  it  is  because  the 
centre  is  always  applied  to  the  most  attractive  branch 
or  portion  of  the  work  ;  it  consequently  possesses  in 
superiority  of  number,  one,  and  in  superiority  of 
attraction,  one.  Its  influence  consequently  is  equal 
to  that  of  the  four  members  composing  the  extremes, 
who  are  occupied  with  the  other  parts. 

A  Group,  composed  of  six  members  and  forming 
such  divisions,  as  2,  2, 2,  would  be  badly  equilibrated  ; 
its  centre  would  be  as  weak  in  numbers  as  each  of 
its  extremes.  In  strict  theory  the  centre  should  be 
strengthened  and  the  wings  unequal ;  the  ascending 
or  first  wing,  more  numerous  than  the  descending  or 
second  wing.  We  will  take  as  examples  three  Group?, 
one  of  twelve,  one  of  sixteen  and  one  of  twenty-four 
members. 

(  ascending  wing  .  .  4. 

Group  of  twelve  members  .  .  .  .  <  centre 5. 

(  descending  wing  .  3. 

C  ascending  wing     2,  3. 

Group  of  sixteen  members  .  .  .  . }  centre 2,3,2, 

{  descending  wing    2,  2. 

C  ascending  wing  2,  4,  2. 

Group  of  twenty-four  members  .  <  centre 3,  4,  2. 

(  descending  wing  2,  3,  2. 

These  divisions  must  not  be  established  by  the  order 
of  an  overseer  or  master,  but  by  attraction  and  a 
natural  distribution.  Attraction  alone  must  induce 


118  GROUPS   AND    SERIES. 

/ 

twenty-four  members  cultivating  any  species  of  vege- 
table or  flower,  to  form  the  nine  Sub-groups,  which 
compose  the  centre  ^and  wings  of  the  full  Group,  and 
to  divide  the  work  into  as  many  parts  or  parcels,  as 
there  are  Groups. 

The  Series  are  distributed  in  the  same  manner  as 
the  Groups ;  the  former  operate  on  Groups,'  as  Groups 
operate  on  individuals.  A  Serie  should  contain  at 
least  five  Groups.  Twenty-four  is  the  lowest  number 
which  can  furnish  a  complete  Serie.  The  divisions 
which  that  number  gave  us  above,  fulfil  seven  neces- 
sary conditions: 

The  three  Groups  2,  4,  2—3,  4,  2,— 2,  3  2,  unequal. 
The  central  Group  stronger  than  each  of  the  extremes. 
The  ascending  wing  stronger  than  the  descending  wing. 
The  two  extremes  subdivided  into  three  terms  or  Sub-groups. 
The  middle  Group  consisting  of  seven  members. 
The  Sub-groups  strengthened  at  the  centre. 
The  three  Groups  in  regular  progression  of  seven,  eight, 
nine. 

This  Serie  is  consequently  regularly  exact,  al- 
though limited  to  the  smallest  possible  number: 
twenty-three  would  fulfil  neither  the  third ,  nor 
the  sixth  condition.  In  all  Series  the  ascending  wing 
is  composed  of  Groups  occupied  with  the  strongest 
and  most  masculine  species,  the  descending  wing  with 
the  smaller  and  less  important  species,  and  the  centre 
with  the  finest  and  most  elegant  species.  The  centre, 
as  we  observed,  must  counterbalance  the  two  ex- 
tremes in  superiority  of  number  and  degree  of  attrac- 
tion. Example  taken  from  a  Serie  cultivating  pears: 


GROUPS    AND    SERIES. 

.      '  .1-.? 

Ascending  wing,      10  Groups  cultivating  hard  pears. 
Centre,  12      „  „          juicy  pears. 

Descending  wing,      8      „  „          mealy  pears. 

A  Serie  breeding  horses : 

Ascending  wing,  10  Groups  breeding  Flanders  or  dray  horses 
Centre,  12      „  „         Arabian  or  blood  horses. 

Descending  wing,  8      ,,  „          Mules. 

Before  entering  into  an  examination  of  the  mecha- 
nism of  the  Groups  and  Series,  let  us  examine  some 
of  the  stimulants,  which  it  puts  in  play,  and  some 
practical  examples  which  we  find  of  this  mechanism 
in  civilization. 

FIRST  STIMULANT  :  Attraction  of  friendship,  or  charm 
of  sympathies  and  contrasts  of  character  between 
persons  composing  the  Group.  How  often  do  we 
take  a  walk,  excursion  or  a  journey,  merely  because 
we  are  accompanied  by  a  person  whom  we  fove,  or 
for  whom  we  feel  a  friendship!  (Let  us  observe,  that 
often  a  single  one  of  the  stimulants,  which  we  shall 
examine  below,  is  sufficient  of  itself  to  rouse  to  ac- 
tion; but  a  Serie  regularly  organized  must  awaken 
several  of  tficse  stimulants  at  once,  so  as  to  excite 
spontaneous  and  vehement  eo-operation,  and  gua- 
rantee the  continuance  of  activity  on  the  part  of  its 
members). 

SECOND  STIMULANT:    Attraction  for  particular  oc-* 
cupations,  for  constructing  machinery,  for  chemical 
experiments,  for  breeding  cattle,  for  floriculture  and 
horticulture,  and  for  various  branches  of  the  fine-art* 
and  sciences.     We  see  persons  devoting  themselves 


120  GROUPS   AND    SERIES. 

with  enthusiasm  to  some  favorite  occupation,  al- 
though they  have  numerous  obstacles  to  contend 
with,  are  without  the  emulation  of  rival  Groups,  and 
do  not  receive  the  co-operation  of  skilful  assistants, 
who  would  relieve  them  of  certain  portions  *of  the 
work.  In  a  Serie  of  Florists,  for  example,  men  might 
spade  and  prepare  the  earth,  while  women  attended 
to  the  more  delicate  parts  of  the  cultivation,  gather- 
ing of  flowers  for  perfumery,  collecting  and  label- 
ing of  seeds.  We  do  not  see  very  often,  it  is  true, 
strong  inclinations  for  particular  occupations,  because 
those  inclinations  are  not  properly  developed  in  child- 
hood. If  an  Industrial  Education  were  given  to 
children,  if  their  capacities  and  predispositions  to 
vocations  were  cultivated  by  means  pointed  out  in 
the  note  below — possible  only  in  the  mechanism  of 

MEANS   OF   DEVELOPING  VOCATIONS   IN  CHILDREN. 

1st.    Little  workshops  and  tools. 

2d.     Privilege  of  parade  and  handling  of  tools. 

3d.     Charm  of  graduated  ornaments. 

4th.  Advantage  of  choosing  in  eaeh  blanch  of  industry  the 
detail  which  the  child  likes. 

oth.    Imitative  propensity  which  is  predominant  in  child-, 
hood. 

6th.  Inclination  of  children  to  follow  the  impulses  and 
examples  of  comrades  a  little  older  than  themselves. 

7th.  The  pleasure  of  short  and  gay  occupations^  frequently 
varied  and  animated  by  emulation^. 

8th.     Enthusiasm  for  prodigies  performed   by   Groups   of 
,  children  somewhat  older  than  themselves,  the  only  mo- 

dels the  child  chooses  from  passion. 

9th.    Full  liberty  in  the  choice  of,  and  duration  of  work. 

X  The  influence  of  a  system  of  progressive  distribution,, 
which  is  the  order  of  Nature,  and  which  can  alone  in- 
duce in  the  child  the  desire  of,  and  doci^ty  necessary 
in  industrial  studies. 


CROUPS   AXD   SERIES.  121 

the  Series — we  would  be  surprised  to  see  developed 
in  each  child  from  twenty  to  thirty  industrial  incli- 
nations, while  in  civilization  we  often  do  not  see  one 
awakened. 

THIRD  STIMULANT  :  Corporative  rivalry  ;  nothing 
develops  such  energy  in  the  individual  as  corporaiive 
rivalry  or  emulation  ;  this  passion,  so  universal,  is  one 
of  the  most  powerful  springs  of  action  in  the  human 
soul.  In  the  mechanism  of  the  Series,  we  find  first, 
emulation  bet  ween  members  of  Groups,  each  of  whom 
strives  to  excel  in  his  part; — then  come  higher  rival- 
ries, the  rivalry  of  Group  with  Group,  of  Serie  with 
Serie,  of  Phalanx  with  Phalanx,  State  even  with 
State,  and  Nation  with  Nation.  Arrived  at  this  point, 
we  see  these  collective  emulations  producing  the 
most  brilliant  results.  We  find  here  and  there  some 
examples  of  these  national  rivalries  in  the  present 
order  of  things:  the  nations  of  Europe  strive  to  excel 
in  the  discipline  and  perfection  of  their  armies;  and 
there  exists  a  marked  rivalry  between  England  and 
this  country  in  ships  and  steamboats. 

The  lustre,  imparted  to  the  fine-arts  in  Italy  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  is  attributable  in  a  great  measure 
to  this  stimulant;  the  leading  cities  then  had  their 
schools  of  painting,  each  with  its  peculiar  excellence, 
at  the  heads  of  which  were  the  great  painters  of  that 
day ;  Raphael  at  Rome ;  Michael  Angelo  at  Florence  ; 
Titian  at  Venice ;  and  Leonardo  Da  Vinci  at  Milan. 
These  different  schools  were  mutually  benefited  by 


122  GROUPS   AND    SERIES. 

studying  the  particular  excellence  which  each  had 
attained;  and  to  this  noble  emulation  do  we  owe 
those  magnificent  works  of  art,  which  have  been, 
and  ever  will  be  the  admiration  of  the  world.  The 
dignity  and  elevation  communicated  to  art  by  this 
collective  rivalry,  are  well  expressed  in  the  words  of 
Correggio,  who,  on  contemplating  one  of  his  grandest 
compositions,  exclaimed  :  "/ also  am  a  painter" 

Such  is  the  dignity  and  elevation  which  should  be 
given  to  Industry  in  general ;  this  vast  and  noble 
field  of  human  activity,  now  so  degraded,  should  be 
elevated,  until  each  individual  would  feel  for  his 
branch  the  enthusiasm  that  called  forth  the  exclama- 
tion of  Correggio. 

FOURTH  STIMULANT  :  Corporative  enthusiasm,  based 
upon  the  pride  of  belonging  to  a  Serie  celebrated  for 
the  perfection  of  its  products ;  upon  the  advantage 
of  participating  in  its  corporative  festivities,  balls 
and  banquets  ;  and  upon  the  privilege  of  wearing  its 
uniforms  and  badges.  In  Association,  the  member 
of  a  Serie  which  had  become  renowned  for  the  ex- 
cellence of  its  products,  would  be  warmly  received 
and  honored,  if  he  were  to  travel,  by  those  devoted 
to  the  branch  in  which  his  Serie  is  distinguished. 
The  means  by  which  it  had  attained  its  particular 
excellence  would  be  an  object  of  interest,  and  a  sub- 
ject of  inquiry  to  his  entertainers.  At  entertainments 
given  him,  his  name  would  be  associated  with  the 
nobleness  of  industry,  and  he,  as  the  representative 
of  his  Serie,  would  receive  the  applause  bestowed 


GROUPS    AND    SERIES.  128 

upon  it.  We  see  examples  of  this  in  receptions  given 
to  authors,  politicians  and  military  officers,  but  they 
are  generally  individual,  not  corporative — that  is 
not  connected  with  masses ;  they  bring  about  no  use- 
ful results  in  civilization,  because  they  are  severed 
from  productive  industry ;  but  in  Association,  tjiey 
would  be  an  important  lever  in  increasing  the  respect 
for,  and  devotion  to  this  high  branch  of  human  ac- 
tivity. 

FIFTH  STIMULANT  :  Elegance  of  all  exterior  objects 
connected  with  industry,  such  as  fields  beautifully 
laid  out,  and  diversified  by  clusters  of  fruit  and  forest 
trees,  flower-beds  and  fountains,  with  here  and  there 
rural  pavillions,  serving  as  depositories  for  imple- 
ments and  dresses,  as  well  as  for  refreshment  and 
shelter.  At  present  a  laborer  at  work  alone  in  our 
monotonous  fields,  has  no  shelter  to  retreat  to,  has 
not  even  a  water-proof  dress  or  an  umbrella  to  pro- 
tect himself  in  case  of  a  sudden  storm.  Equal  re- 
gard must  be  paid  to  the  elegance  of  manufactories 
and  work-shops,  which  should  be  commodious,  ap- 
propriately decorated,  provided  with  elegant  tools 
and  implements,  with  all  machinery  necessary  to 
aid  and  facilitate  the  work,  and  with  the  best  mate- 
rials to  insjure  its  success.  So  defective  is  civiliza- 
tion in  its  industrial  organization,  that  its  manufac- 
tories and  workshops,  dark,  dirty  and  repulsive,  are 
alone  sufficient  to  banish  every  spark  of  industrial 
enthusiasm  from  the  bosom  of  the  workman. 

SIXTH  STIMULANT:     Honorary  distinctions;    each 


124  GROUPS   AlfD    SERIES. 

Group  and  Serie  has  its  officers  chosen  by  the  mem- 
bers composing  it;  to  these  distinctions  are  to  be 
added  badges  of  honor,  such  as  crosses,  orders  and 
medals.*  The  power  of  such  stimulants  is  proved  by 
the  dangers  and  fatigues  undergone  in  the  military 
Career  krobtain  them ;  a  man  for  a  cross  or  an  order 
will  run  the  risk  of  being  maimed  for  life  or  slain. 
It  is  to  be  observed,  that  there  is  no  comparison  be- 
tween the  intrinsic  value  of  the  rewards  bestowed, 
and  the  immense  exertions  which  they  call  forth. 
As  a  consequence,  in  Association,  these  distinctions 
will  be  extensively  made  use  of,  as  valuable  incen- 
tives to  noble  and  useful  industry. 

SEVENTH  STIMULANT  :  Charm  of  corporative  uni- 
forms, banners,  emblems  of  industry  and  music. 
Man  by  instinct  has  made  use  of  these  stimulants  in 
his  military  operations,  without  ever  thinking  of  ap- 
plying them  to  industry.  As  an  example  of  the  power 
of  music  take  the  Marseilles  hymn,  which  inspired  to 
such  splendid  achievements  during  the  conquest  of 
the  armies  of  the  French  republic.  The  sacred  at- 
tachment of  the  soldier  to  his  banner,  is  an  example 
of  the  power  of  corporative  emblems.  In  Associa- 
tion the  Series  at  their  celebrations  would  decorate 
their  festive  halls  with  their  productions,  and  with 
emblems  of  their  industry;  we  see  this  perfectly  il- 
lustrated at  present  at  our  Firemen's  balls,  with  their 

*  Medals  are  frequently  bestowed  in  the  present  order  for 
excellence  in  industrial  products,  but  they  offer  the  possessor 
no  social  advantages  or  distinctions,  and  with  the  general  de- 
gradation of  industry,  they  are  almost  valueless  as  a  stimulant. 


GROUPS    AND    SERIES.  125 

display  of  miniature  engines,  hooks  and  ladders, 
banners,  lanterns  and  trumpets.  All  these  insignia 
highten  the  respect  for  the  branch  of  work,  which 
they  represent. 

£IGHTH  STIMULANT:  A  just  and  satisfactory  divi- 
sion of  profits  to  every  person,  man,  woman  and 
child,  according  to  the  Labor,  Capital  arid  Skill  of 
each.  In  civilization  this  division  is  inverse,  that  is, 
capital  and  commerce  receive  the  largest  share  of 
the  profits  of  industry,  without  taking  an  active  part 
in  the  labor  of  production.  Production  is  also  inverse ; 
that  is,  based  on  the  caprices  and  fancies  of  the  rich 
and  great,  instead  of  upon  the  welfare  of  the  pro- 
ducer. It  is  often  asserted  that  it  is  the  luxuries  of 
the  rich,  which  keep  the  laboring  classes  in  work,  and 
which  sustain  them.  It  would  seem  but  just,  how- 
ever, that  the  labor  of  the  working  classes  should  be 
directed,  first,  to  the  production  of  what  is  necessary 
to  their  own  wants  and  welfare ;  and  then  their  sur- 
plus labor  might  be  directed  to  the  creation  of  luxu- 
ries, if  they  be  believed  so  very  important.  This 
assertion,  however,  is  an  outrageous  sophism  worthy 
of  being  coupled  with  the  following:  "  there  must  be 
a  great  many  poor,  in  order  that  there  may  be  a  few 
rich." 

PIVOTAL  STIMULANT  ;  short  periods  for  the  exercise 
of  all  branches  of  industry  or  functions,  and  with 
polite,  affable  and  agreeable  persons.  A  labor  con- 
tinued for  twelve  or  fourteen  hours,  annihilates  all 
love  for  it,  turns  It  into  a  perfect  scourge,  deadens 


126  GROUPS    AND    SERIES. 

the  intellect,  gives  an  excessive  action  to  certain  parts 
of  the  body,  while  it  weakens  others,  and  in  time 
brutalizes  the  being  who  bears  its  burden.  The  world, 
seeing  labor  performed  under  such  circumstances, 
supposes  that  it  must  be  inherently  repugnant,  and 
that  it  will  always  remain  so.  But  is  it  not  possible, 
that  a  different  organization,  may  be  given  to  it, 
which,  differing  in  every  respect  and  in  all  its  details 
from  the  civilized  method,  might  strip  it  of  the  disgust 
and  loathsomeness  now  attached  to  it  1  Suppose  a 
ball  were  held  in  a  dark  and  filthy  place,  that  the 
guests  were  badly  dressed,  vulgar,  many  of  them 
even  brutal  in  their  manners,  and  that  in  addition  to 
all  this,  it  were  to  be  continued  for  from  twelve  to 
fourteen  hours ;  would  it  be  attractive  1  Most  cer- 
tainly not ;  how  then  can  we  expect  industry  to  be 
pleasing,  when  exercised  in  filthy  workshops,  amid 
persons  not  united  from  choice  but  from  necessity, 
between  whom  no  sympathies,  but  net  infrequently 
antipathies  exist ;  and  when  moreover,  it  is  prolonged 
the  entire  day,  week  and  year  through?  But  balls 
are  agreeable  and  attractive— and  why  ?  Because 
they  are  given  in  elegant  rooms,  and  the  company  is 
gay,  polite,  well  dressed  and  composed  of  both  sexes  ; 
moreover  they  last  only  for  a  few  hours,  and  there 
is  perfect  liberty  to  leave,  whenever  the  desire  may 
dictate.  Why  should  not  Industry,  noble  Industry, 
which  feeds  and  clothes  us  all,  without  which  we 
would  be  more  helpless  than  the  brutes,  receive  the 
same  attention  at  our  hands,  with  respect  to  its  orga- 


GROUPS    AND    SERIES.  127 

nization  and  its  method  of  exercise,  as  do  our  ordinary 
amusements  ?  How  has  it  happened  that  the  human 
mind,  so  actively  engaged  for  the  last  two  or  three 
centuries  hi  improvements,  has  entirely  overlooked 
the  important  problem  of  a  reorganization  of  industry, 
and  suffered  it  to  remain  in  its  wretched  and  repug- 
nant state  1 

If  balls  and  parties  are  agreeable  from  the  manner 
in  which  they  are  conducted,  could  not  the  same 
conditions  or  others  as  effectual,  be  applied  to  the 
seven-eights  of  industrial  occupations,  so  as  to  render 
them  attractive?  Is  there  any  fatality  which  prevents 
it  ?  Are  there  difficulties  and  obstacles  in  the  way, 
which  are  insurmountable  ?  This  question  cannot  be 
answered  in  the  affirmative  until  the  subject  has  been 
examined,  and  until  a  trial  of  Association  has  been 
made.  Up  to  the  present  day  it  has  been  totally 
neglected ;  and  so  stupid  a  neglect  must  not  be  brought 
as  evidence  against  its  realization. 

We  occasionally  find  in  civilization,  examples  of 
occupations  or  functions,  organized  and  exercised  in 
Groups  and  Series,  which  produce  important  results, 
and  these  examples  are  a  sufficient  practical  demon- 
stration of  the  importance  of  this  law.  Of  these  we 
will  examine  two,  which  will  enable  the  reader  to 
make  further  applications  by  himself. 

During  the  past  history  of  mankind  a  mighty  pre- 
ponderance has  been  given  to  the  interests  of  war. 
The  world,  or  rather  the  few  leaders  of  the  world 


128  GROUPS    AND    SERIES. 


who  have  imposed  their  will  upon  the  mass,  have 
been  engaged  in  strife  and  carnage,  and  have  found 
in  this  career  an  outlet  to  their  ambitions,  a  means 
of  satisfying  the  turbulent  action  of  the  soul  in  the 
subversive  developement  of  the  passions.  The  genius 
of  man  has  been  so  constantly  directed  to  war,  to 
improving  and  perfecting  it,  that  he  has  made  it  an 
art,  and  indeed  a  vast  science:  it  has  received  a 
hundred  fold  the  attention,  which  has  been  paid  to 
industry.  Let  us  trace  what  has  been  done:  let  us 
observe  man  in  his  rude  warefare  in  the  savage  state, 
with  the  bow  and  war-club  as  his  only  weapons, 
skulking  from  tree  to  tree,  fighting  without  combi- 
nation, operating  individually,  each  according  to  his 
own  impulse;  and  then  let  us  transport  ourselves  to 
some  modern  battlefield,  where  hundreds  of  thousands 
are  assembled;  let  us  place  ourselves  in  imagination 
beside  the  modern  genius  of  devastation  on  some 
momentous  day,  like  that  of  Austerlitz,  and  then  we 
shall  see  war  in  all  its  glory,  see  what  man  has  done 
for  carnage !  He  has  been  mighty  in  his  subversion, 
and  this  is  a  proof  of  the  mighty  career,  which  is 
reserved  him  in  his  harmonic  destiny. 

In  the  vast  operations  of  armies,  instinct  has  led 
him  to  adopt  the  Groups  and  Series.  An  a7'my  is  a 
vast  Serie  regularly  organized,  divided  into  brigades, 
regiments  and  companies,  which  are  its  Groups  and 
Sub-groups.  It  has  its  centre  and  wings,  and  the 
genius  even  of  a  Napoleon  finds  an  adequate  field  for 
its  activity  in  combining  and  regulating  the  move- 


CROUPS    AND    SERIES.  12U 

ments  of  these  masses.  Art  and  science  unite  to 
beautify  it  and  increase  its  destructive  power:  to 
the  first  is  owing  the  elegance  of  uniforms,  of  banners, 
of  arms,  and  the  exciting  stimulant  of  music:  and 
with  the  aid  of  the  second,  the  bow  and  war-club 
have  been  replaced  by  the  rifle  and  the  canon.  Ar- 
chitecture lends  also  its  aid  in  the  construction  of 
fortifications,  and  glory  and  renown  shed  their  halo 
around  the  whole.  What  an  achievement  of  human 
genius  is  an  army  equiped  for  battle  !  But  for  what 
a  purpose  is  this  splendid  array ! 

While  this  progress  has  taken  place  in  one  branch 
of  human  affairs,  let  us  examine  what  has  been  done 
in  another.  In  the  savage  state  Nature  assembles 
isolated  couples  in  the  hut  or  wigwam:  this  is  the 
rudest,  simplest  household  or  domestic  organization : 
it  is  devoid  of  all  economy  and  combination,  and  is 
the  source  of  discord  and  poverty.  The  domestic 
organization  a.id  the  warefare  of  the  savage  are 
equally  rude  and  simple :  there  is  equality  in  these 
branches  of  this  lowest  of  social  mechanisms.  But 
see  how  one  branch  has  outstriped  the  other  in  the 
later  societies  man  has  organized.  While  the  gigantic 
developments  above  described  have  been  given  to 
war,  the  household  or  domestic  organization,  and 
irith  it  agriculture,  have  remained  in  almost  the  same 
imperfect  state.  Details  have  been  perfected,  valu- 
able agricultural  implements  have  been  invented, 
and  great  improvements  in  cultivation  have  taken 
place,  but  no  means  of  combining  and  associating 

9 


130 


GROUPS    AND    SERIES. 


masses,  which  would  produce  system,  economy, 
riches  and  attractive  industry,  has  been  discovered. 
The  log-house  or  the  cottage  has  replaced  the  wig- 
wam, but  the  isolated  household  with  its  single 
couple,  which  is  the  savage  or  primitive  system,  still 
continues  the  domestic  organization  of  civilization, 
and  prevents  an  effective  application  of  the  improve- 
ments in  cultivation,  which  have  "taken  place,  and 
of  the  implements,  which  have  been  invented. 

The  time  has  arrived  when  the  attention  of  men 
should  be  directed  to  the  most  important  of  problems 
— that  of  perfecting  the  system  of  our  domestic  or- 
ganization; it  should  be  one  of  the  great  political  and 
scientific  questions  of  the  day.  What  a  brillant  career 
it  would  open  the  genius !  So  much  has  been  done 
for  war ;  could  not  something  also  be  done  for  this 
primary  branch  of  human  affairs  ?  Shall  Architec- 
ture with  its  marbles  and  granites  build  only  towers 
and  fortifications  for  the  purpose  of  destruction,  or 
palaces  for  the  great,  who  by  violence  have  robbed 
the  mass  of  their  rights,  while  the  vast  multitude 
whom  the  Creator  has  placed  upon  the  earth  to  cul- 
tivate and  embellish  it,  are  left  with  huts  and  hovels 
which  scarcely  shelter  them?  Shall  Art  remain  un- 
known to  the  laboring  mass  ?  Shall  it  never  enliven 
with  its  music  and  its  ornaments  their  work  and 
their  festivities?  shall  badges  and  honors  be  always 
the  rewards  of  destruction,  and  never  of  production  ? 
shall  they  be  confered  alone  on  the  man  of  war. 
whose  function  is  the  destruction  of  his  fellow  crea- 


GROUPS    AND    SERIES.  131 

tures,  and  not  on  the  man  of  industry,  whose  func- 
tion is  the  creation  of  riches? 

If  all  these  stimulants, — music,  uniforms,  badges, 
honors,  concerts  and  rivalries  of  masses,  have  made 
WAR  ATTRACTIVE,  may  we  not  suppose,  that  applied 
to  production,  they  would  render  INDUSTRY  ATTRAC- 
TIVE? It  is  not  agreeable  to  kill  a  fellow  creature, 
or  to  be  killed ;  yet  this  function  has  been  ennobled, 
and  men  in  all  ages  have  sought  with  avidity  places 
in  armies,  have  sought  eagerly  this  occupation  so 
inherently  repugnant,  because  it  opened  the  way  to 
rank  and  consideration.  Let  industry  throw  open  a 
similar  field  of  honors  and  preferments,  and  men  will 
seek  with  enthusiasm  its  exercise  as  a  means  of  at- 
taining these  desires  of  the  human  heart.  The  mighty 
energy  which  would  thus  be  directed  to  industry, 
would  increase  riches  immeasurably,  and  ease  and 
affluence  might  be  guaranteed  to  all.  Remove  but 
once  from  the  human  race  the  scourge  of  indigence, 
the  oppression  of  poverty,  which  so  blights  the  fa- 
culties, energies  and  ambition  of  man,  and  who  can 
say  where  his  improvements,  his  ameliorations  and 
greatness  will  end! 

But  all  the  stimulants  of  art,  of  honors,  of  ambi- 
tion, of  emulation,  are  perfectly  incompatible  with 
the  isolated  household,  with  the  narrow  civilized 
domestic  organization.  Here  is  the  radical  defect  of 
our  societies,  and  here  it  is  that  a  radical  reform  must 
begin.  If  we  can  but  convince  the  reader  of  this 
fact,  awaken  a  strong  feeling  of  its  truth  in  his  mind, 

9* 


132 


GROUPS    AND    SERIES. 


he  will  be  gained  to  the  cause  of  Association.  Iso- 
lated man  without  social  interests  and  sympathies, 
is,  like  a  single  note  in  music,  valueless.  We  must 
combine  and  associate  large  masses  to  develop  the 
harmonies  of  human  nature.  The  cabin,  the  cottage, 
or  the  dwelling  house  of  civilization,  with  its  monot- 
ony, with  the  daily  repetition  of  its  petty  and  harass- 
ing cares,  with  its  anti-social  spirit,  its  absence  of 
emulation,  debilitates  the  energies  of  the  soul  and 
produces  apathy  and  intellectual  death,  where  all 
should  be  life  and  exaltations !  We  must  drag  man 
out  of  this  scramped  sphere,  out  of  civilization ;  we 
must  found  Association,  we  must  build  a  Palace  for 
a  Phalanx  of  two  thousand  beings,  in  which  human 
nature  will  be  fully  developed  by  the  stimulants  of 
social  life,  and  by  those  which  the  Series  will  call 
into  action;  we  must  build  a  Palace  in  which  all 
branches  of  industry,  art  and  science  can  be  com- 
binedly  prosecuted,  and  to  which  that  elegance  can 
be  given,  which  can  only  arise  from  the  united  action 
of  masses.  We  must  educate  children  in  such  large 
Associations,  where  all  these  branches  of  human 
activity,  carried  on  around  them,  will  develop  by 
example  their  faculties  and  powers;  we  must  make 
men  of  them,  instead  of  creatures  three-fourths  of 
whose  faculties  are  smothered  or  perverted.  In 
short,  we  must  free  man  from  his  present  harassed 
and  prosaic  life,  and  in  so  doing,  restore  him  to  ihe 
liberty  of  his  being. 

We  know  how  strongly  civilized  man  clings  to 


GROUPS    AND    SERIES.  133 

his  isolated  household  or  family  life,  and  what  pre- 
judices there  are  to  overcome  on  this  point.  He  be- 
comes attached  to  it,  as  the  prisoner  in  his  cell  be- 
comes attached  to  the  spider,  which  is  his  only  com- 
panion; civilization  with  its  conflicts  of  interests,  its 
animosities,  its  anti-social  spirit,  forces  him  to  seek 
within  his  own  house  for  a  concurrence  of  views  and 
feelings;  there  at  least  he  finds  unity  of  interests  : — 
and,  from  the  repulsiveness  and  antagonism  of  the 
civilized  outward  social  life,  has  arisen  that  family- 
selfishness,  which,  concentrating  all  affections  and 
hopes  within  its  own  little  circle,  leaves  the  heart  in- 
different to  the  woes  and  sufferings  of  mankind.  It 
is  in  this  selfishness  that  Association  will  find  an  in- 
stinctive, inveterate  opponent;  and  for  that  reason 
both  it  and  the  system  which  produces  it  must  be 
attacked,  as  the  two  primary  obstacles,  the  one 
moral  and  the  other  physical,  to  a  social  reform. 

We  have  said  too  little  on  the  subject  of  the  Serial 
organization  of  the  army  to  explain  it  clearly,  but 
we  will  leave  the  reader  to  make  further  applica- 
tions by  himself.  We  have  particularly  wished  to 
show  that  the  primary  condition  of  social  progress 
is  a  reform  in  the  present  domestic  organization.  As 
that  organization  is  the  smallest  possible  combina- 
tion of  persons  and  the  elements  of  industry,  there 
can  only  be  substituted  in  its  place  Association,  or 
the  combination  of  masses  more  or  less  numerous. 
If  we  can  therefore  convince  the  reader  of  the 


134  GROUPS    AND    SERIES. 

defects  of  the  present  household  system,  we  have 
attained  an  important  end. 

Before  proceeding  to  examine  the  second  example 
of  a  labor  exercised  at  present  by  Groups  and  Series, 
we  will  recapitulate  summarily  under  three  general 
heads,  our  previous  remarks  on  the  defective  results 
of  our  domestic  organization. 

1st.  The  civilized  household,  prosecuting  monot- 
onously but  one  branch  of  labor,  can  give  no  develop- 
ment to  the  industrial  instincts  and  inclinations  of 
children;  it  can  guarantee  them  no  practical,  no  in- 
dustrial education;  and  could  they  receive  it  else- 
where,— in  our  schools  or  colleges,  it  would  be  use- 
less, for  as  scarcely  any  branchs  of  industry  can  be 
organized  in  the  cabin  or  the  cottage,  the  child  must 
remain  idle,  notwithstanding  the  knowledge  which 
he  may  have  acquired.  In  Association,  on  the  con- 
trary, an  infinite  variety  of  occupations  could  be  or- 
ganized, suited  to  the  ages  and  capabilities  of  chil- 
dren, which  would  employ  them  both  actively  and 
usefully,  and  save  a  vast  deal  of  labor,  now  per- 
formed by  grown  persons.  How  often  do  we  see  a 
strong  man  or  woman  employed  in  the  most  trifling 
work,  which  a  child  could  perform ! 

2d.  With  the  present  organization,  all  operations 
attendant  upon  providing  for  the  wants  of  a  family, 
must  be  gone  through  with  separately  and  daily  by 
each  one  in  the  same  manner  and  with  the  same 
detail,  as  for  an  assemblage  of  two  thousand  persons, 
except  the  difference  of  scale.  This  monotonous  and 


GROUPS    AND    SERIES.  135 

uniform  burden  falls  also  daily  upon  the  same  per- 
sons, who  may  perhaps  have  a  dislike  for  it,  which 
is  {lightened  to  absolute  disgust  by  its  constant  re- 
petition. Marketing,  cooking,  washing,  keeping  up 
of  fires,  must  all  be  done  separately  by  each  family. 
The  waste  of  such  a  system  is  so  enormous,  that  it 
would  condemn  of  itself  the  whole  system  of  isolated 
households,  if  it  were  proved  in  detail.  Wherever 
we  see  absence  of  system  and  economy,  we  may  be 
sure  that  there  poverty  and  want  exist ;  they  ever 
have  been  and  ever  will  remain  the  unvarying  at- 
tendants of  civilization,  based  on  isolated  households. 

3d.  Perpertual  presence  of  the  same  society,  be- 
tween the  members  of  which  there  exist  very  often 
contrasts  of  characters,  tastes,  inclinations  and  feel- 
ings. As  there  are  scarcely  any  occupations  which 
form  a  diversion  to  the  monotonous  uniformity  of  the 
household  life,  or  which  could  make  use  of  these 
contrasts,  they  break  out  on  subjects  relating  to 
minor  details,  such  as  warmth  of  rooms,  manner  of 
cooVing,  and  a  hundred  other  little  minutiae  which 
are  swelled  to  controversies  and  often  to  disputes. 

Man  is  a  being  whose  passional  nature  requires  an 
almost  infinite  development,  which  can  only  take 
place  in  large  Associations,  where  all  sympathies  and 
contrasts  become  useful;  there  a  field  is  opened  to 
emulation,  ambition,  and  those  noble  stimulants  which 
give  man  his  true  elevation.  Without  them,  without 
this  expansion  of  his  nature,  he  sinks  into  apathy, 
melancholy,  often  into  vice  and  degradation.  Iso- 


GROUPS    AND    SERIES. 

lated  man,  as  we  observed,  is  valueless;  it  is  only 
in  Association  of  about  eighteen  hundred  persons 
that  all  varieties  of  passions,  tastes  and  characters 
can  be  found,  which  are  necessary  to  form,  what 
may  be  called  the  Great  concert  of  human  nature  or 
human  harmonies. 

,  Thus,  the  civilized  dwelling-house,  which  is  the 
smallest  of  domestic  organizations,  is  perfectly  in- 
compatible with  the  fulfilment  of  the  three  condi- 
tions: Education,  Riches,  Development  of  human 
nature;  it  therefore,  'in  a  three-fold  point  of  view, 
requires  reform. 

We  will  now  proceed  to  examine  the  second 
example  of  an  application  of  the  Groups  and  Series, 
to  a  labor  in  the  present  order;  we  refer  to  the  or- 
ganization of  fire  companies  in  our  large  cities.  The 
Fire  department  may  be  considered  a  Serie,  the 
Pivot  of  which  is  a  Chief  Engineer  with  assistant 
Engineers  and  other  officers,  and  the  Groups  of 
which  are  the  different  companies.  Through  the 
means  of  the  stimulants  which  this  organization  puts 
in  p!ay,  we  find  a  labor  which  is  in  itself  repugnant, 
often  dangerous,  and  which  requires  of  those  per- 
forming it  promptness  and  alacrity  at  all  hours,  exe- 
cuted spontaneously,  enthusiastically  and  without 
pay.  We  may  trace  this  effect,  so  contrary  to  the 
general  rule  by  which  labor  is  performed  in  civiliza- 
tion, to  the  rivalry  and  emulation  which  are  aroused 
in  the  fire  companies. 
A  rivalry  is  first  excited  between  the  members  of 


GROUPS    AND    SERIES.  137 

each  Group  or  company,  and  then  between  the  com- 
panies themselves;  this  rivalry  is  not  envious,  for 
a  powerful  corporative  feeling  exists  throughout 
the  entire  department ;  each  member  sustains  his 
company  and  the  companies  sustain  each  other. 
Each  individual  endeavors  to  excel  the  other  mem- 
bers of  the  same  company  or  Group,  but  they  are 
united  like  a  single  man  to  outship  in  promptness 
and  dexterity  rival  companies.  The  whole  energy 
of  the  Fire  department  is  based  Upon  a  two-fold 
rivalry, — a  rivalry  of  individuals,  and  a  rivalry  of 
companies.  This  compound  emulation  is  a  character 
of  the  serial  organization. 

The  engine  first  at  the  fire,  has  the  honors  of 
the  day,  which  is  a  triumph  for  its  members.  There 
is  also  a  very  strong  rivalry  on  other  points  ;  where 
water  is  brought  from  a  distance,  it  is  pumped 
from  engine  to  engine ;  if  No.  5  plays  into  No.  6,  and 
supplies  the  latter  with  water  faster  than  it  can  pump 
it  out,  it  is  overflowed,  which  is  a  disgrace ;  hence 
the  honor  of  No.  6  is  at  stake  and  every  effort  is 
made  to  preserve  it  unblemished.  We  have  heard 
it  mentioned  that  there  is  among  the  New  York  com- 
panies, one  whose  engine  never  has  been  overflowed  : 
it  is  easy  te  conceive  what  a  stimulant  such  a  trifle 
must  be  to  those  charged  with  preserving  the  un- 
tarnished reputation  of  their  favorite  machine. 

Each  company  has  its  officers,  such  as  foreman, 
assistant  foreman  and  secretary,  the  desire  of  obtain- 
ing which  excites  devotion  to  the  cause  of  the  Group. 


GROUPS    AND    SERIES. 


Another  means  of  arousing  emulation  is  to  concede 
to  the  person,  who  is  first  at  the  engine,  certain 
privileges,  among  others  that  of  holding  the  pipe  and 
playing  on  the  fire.  Who  has  not  seen  firemen 
perched  on  the  pinnacle  of  slanting  roofs,  directing 
a  stream  of  water,  as  coolly  as  if  they  were  on  the 
pavement ;  they  know  that  the  eyes  of  the  mass  and 
of  fellow  firemen  are  on  them  ;  this  exaltation  induces 
them  to  perform  acts  which,  without  it,  no  pecuniary 
reward  could  hire  them  to  do  it.  So  strong  is  the 
desire  of  being  on  the  spot  at  the  first  alarm,  that  the 
firemen  often  sleep  by  their  engines  and  that  even  in 
winter. 

These  individual  and  corporative  rivalries,  a  small 
part  only  of  which  we  have  mentioned,  produce  a 
strong  enthusiasm  on  the  part  of  the  firemen  for  their 
function.  The  members  of  each  company  club  to- 
gether to  perfect  and  ornament  splendidly  their  en- 
gine ;  their  pride  and  emulation  are  here  again  aroused 
on  minor  points,  on  the  beauty  of  the  machine  and 
its  power  of  throwing  water.  The  greatest  care  is 
also  paid  to  every  part  of  it,  and  it  is  kept  clean  and 
in  perfect  order ;  a  mother  could  not  pay  more 
attention  to  a  child,  nor  take  a  greater  pride  in  its 
beauty.  With  some  companies,  the  members  of  which 
can  afford  it,  the  corporative  pride  of  elegant  orna- 
ments is  carried  to  a  very  great  extreme ;  not  only 
are  the  engines  richly  fitted  up,  but  some  companies 
have  a  second  story  to  their  engine  houses,  very  hand- 
somely furnished  with  carpets,  lamps  and  even  piano- 


GROUPS    AND    SERIES.  139 

fortes ;  all  these  things  give  a  charm  to,  and  ennoble 
the  function.  In  Association  this  same  spirii  would 
give,  as  we  shall  show,  to  all  the  machinery,  imple- 
ments, costumes,  and  every  thing  connected  with  in- 
dustry, an  amazing  perfection  and  elegance.  The 
civilizee  ornaments  his  house,  ornaments  what  is 
connected  with  himself  individually;  but  the  emula- 
tion of  the  Groups  will  render  corporative  in  each 
individual  the  desire  of  elegance;  it  will  be  directed 
to  the  embellishment  of  the  branches  of  industry  to 
which  he  is  devotedly  attached,  and  the  exercise  of 
which  he  has  espoused  with  ardour.  These  exempli- 
fications of  our  fire  companies  serve  appropriately  to 
illustrate  practically  some  results  which  we  shall  de- 
duce in  theory  from  the  mechanism  of  the  Series. 

Let  us  observe,  however,  that  the  fire  department 
with  its  companies,  gives  no  idea  whatever  of  the 
magnificence  of  a  Serie  in  association  with  its 
Groups.  There  is  connected  with  the  former  a 
noisy,  turbulent  rabble  whose  roughness  seems  enough 
to  dampen  the  ardour  of  the  most  enthusiastic;  the 
fire  department  possesses  a  few  of  the  stimulants  of 
the  Suries  organization,  but  all  the  defects  of  civiliza- 
tion, such  as  ignorance,  coarseness  and  vulgar  man- 
ners of  the  mass  are  connected  with,  and  disparage  it. 

In  the  Combined  order,  as  the  same  education  with- 
out any  distinction  will  be  given  to  all  children;  as 
the  Groups  and  Series  will  connect  and  unite  all 
classes,  the  first  ancf  most  important  result,  that  of 
politeness  and  elegance  of  manners  will  be  attained : 


140 


GROUPS    AND    SERIES. 


as  seven-eighths  of  industrial  occupations  are  of 
themselves  enticing  and  pleasing,  women  will  take 
a  part  in  them  as  well  as  men ;  as  the  riches  of  As- 
sociation will  be  immense,  the  costumes,  implements 
and  all  accessories  connected  with  industry  can,  as 
a  consequence,  be  both  beautiful  and  appropriate ; 
thus  every  means  will  be  taken  to  connect  charm 
with  its  exercise,  and  diminish  any  repugnancies 
which  may  exist.  We  will  therefore  find  in  the 
Groups  of  Association  urbanity  of  manners,  unions 
of  both  sexes  and  elegance  of  accessories,  besides  the 
stimulants  mentioned  above,  such  as  individual  and 
corporative  emulation,  ambition  and  honors.  The 
enthusiasm  of  the  Groups  for  the  branches  of  indus- 
try which  they  have  choosen  from  passion,  will  be 
carried  by  the  combination  of  these  means  to  its 
highest  degree. 

The  parallel  between  the  fire  companies  and  the 
Groups  extends  as  far  as  this ;  with  the  aid  of  the 
organization  of  the  former,  a  labor  in  itself  repugnant 
and  disagreeable,  is  executed  spontaneously,  enthu- 
siastically and  without  pecuniary  reward  by  men 
who,  in  all  their  other  occupations,  organized  accord- 
ing the  civilized  mode,  would  not  raise  a  finger  without 
being  paid  for  it;  it  is  a  practical  exemplification  of  a 
repulsive  function  rendered  attractive,  and  is  an  im- 
portant example  to  prove  to  what  in  civilization  must 
appear  as  the  most  inconceiveable  of  problems,  name- 
ly, that  industry,  or  at  least  seven-eighths  of  its  oc- 
cupations can  be  rendered  ATTRACTIVE. 


GROUPS    APTD    SERIES.  141 

There  are  some  other  points  of  resemblance  which 
\ve  will  add:  the  fire  department  gives  annually  a 
superb  corporative  ball,  on  which  occasion  the  ball- 
room is  richly  decorated  with  their  banners,  lanterns, 
trumpets,  and  all  other  insignia  which  can  in  any 
way  be  introduced  as  ornaments.  This  display,  this 
mode  of  honoring  a  branch  of  industry  er  a  function, 
must  excite,  it  is  easy  to  conceive,  a  legitimate  en- 
thusiasm in  the  minds  of  the  members  who  have  the 
performance  of  it. 

The  Series  in  Association  would  hold  regularly 
these  corporative  festivities;  their  products  would 
form  a  part  of  ihe  decorations,  and  would  enable  the 
guests  to  judge  of  their  perfection.  If  a  ball  were 
given  by  a  Serie  devoted  to  the  production  of  wheat, 
how  beautifully  could  sheaves  and  wreaths  of  the 
same  be  introduced  as  ornaments,  together  with  the 
various  agricultural  implements  connected  with  its 
cultivation  !  Reference  would  be  made  by  mottoes 
or  emblems  to  the  numberless  uses  to  which  this  noble 
plant  is  applied ;  its  importance  to  man,  and  its  high 
rank  in  the  vegetable  kingdom  would  also  be  pointed 
out.  Busts  of  men  celebrated  in  its  cultivation  would 
be  among  the  ornaments ;  for  the  monuments  of 
Association  will  not  be  military  heroes  with  slaves 
in  chains  at  their  feet.  All  these  means  would  excite 
the  strongest  respect  for,  and  devotion  to  every 
branch  of  industry  thus  honored,  and  with  the  aid 
of  these  serial  celebrations,  that  respect  would  be 
extended  to  industry  in  general.  Industry,  our 


142 


GROUPS    AND    SERIES. 


common  mother,  which  supports  us  all,  why  should 
she  not  merit  our  respect  and  attachment,  merit 
these  honors,  this  devotion  ! 

All  this  display  would  excite  the  admiration  of  the 
guests  and  give  them  a  high  opinion  of  this  precious 
plant ;  their  approbation,  their  praise  of  the  labors 
of  the  Serie  would  be  incentives  to  a  renewal  of 
efforts  on  the  part  of  its  members.  No  stimulant  is 
so  powerful  as  the  applause  of  the  mass,  particularly 
where  women  unites  in  bestowing  it. 


GROUPS    AND    SERIES.  143 


CHAPTER  ELEVENTH. 

GROUPS    AND    SERIES. 

The  Serie  of  Groups  is  the  mode  adopted  by  the  Divinity 
in  the  distribution  of  the  kingdoms  of  nature,  and  of  created 
things.  Naturalists  in  their  theories  and  tables,  have  un- 
animously followed  this  distribution;  they  could  not  have 
departed  from  it,  without  deviating  from  nature,  and  falling 
into  confusion.  If  the  passions  and  characters  were  not  re- 
gulated, like  the  material  kingdoms,  by  Series  and  Groups. 
MAN  WOULD  BE  OUT  OF  UNITY  WITH  THE  UNIVERSE  ;  there 
would  be  duplicity  of  system  and  incoherence  between  the 
material  and  the  passioiutl  world.  If  man  wishes  to  attain 
social  unity,  he  must  seek  for  the  means  in  this  Serial  order, 
to  which  God  has  subjected  all  nature. 

FOURIER.     • 

In  the  formation  and  distribution  of  Series,  three 
conditions  are  to  be  strictly  observed : 
1st.     COMPACT  SCALE  AMONG  GROUPS. 
2d.     SHORT   DURATION    or   OCCUPATIONS,  AND  TREE 

CHOICE    OF    THE    SAME. 

3d.  PARCELLED  EXERCISE  IN  OCCUPATIONS  AND 
FUNCTIONS. 

We  will  first  examine  the  third  condition.  PAR- 
CELLED EXERCISE,  which  consists!  in  dividing  each 
branch  of  work  or  industry  into  as  many  parts  or 
divisions,  as  it  will  admit  of.  A  sub-group  is  ap- 
plied to  each  subdivision  of  the  work,  or  to  each  of 


144  GROUPS    AND    SERIES. 

its  minor  functions.  Let  us  take,  as  an  example, 
the  cultivation  of  a  flower  ;  it  will  answer  as  a  model 
for  other  occupations. 

The  Group  cultivating  it  has  a  diversity  of  Func- 
tions to  perform,  which  we  will  divide  into  three 
categories. 

Tillage ;  to  dig,  hoe,  manure,  mix  and  water 
the  earth,  are  so  many  different  functions,  with  each 
of  which  some  members  are  occupied,  but  not  the 
entire  Group,  as  a  portion  of  the  individuals  compos- 
ing it  would  have  no  taste  for  the  exercise  of  all 
these  functions. 

Moveables  and  Utensils ;  care  of  tools  and  imple- 
ments, arrangement  and  setting  of  awnings — for  in 
Association  every  bed  of  flowers  is  shaded  against 
the  too  intense  heat  of  the  sun  and  protected  from 
hard  rains — care  .  of  the  pavillion  and  the  working 
dresses,  which  are  deposited  in  it.  (Each  Group 
has  a  little  pavillion  or  place  of  shelter  near  the 
grounds  it  cultivates.)' 

Re-production  ;  gathering  and  care  ot  bulbs,  col- 
lecting and  preserving  of  seed,,  classification  and 
labeling  of  varieties. 

Pivotal  function,  that  of  archives,  and 

Accessory  function,  providing  refreshments  and 
other  minutiffi.  Here  are  at  least  a  dozen  distinct 
functions.  No  member  would  wish  to  attend  to  them 
all ;  he  will  only  choose  one  or  two,  or  three  at  the 
most;  it  will  be  necessary  consequently  to  form  a 
dozen  Sub-groups,  devoted  to  each  of  these  different 


GROUPS    AND    SERIES.  145 

occupations.  Attractive  Industry  being  always  par- 
celled and  never  integral ;  we  should  be  certain  of 
fatiguing  and  disgusting  the  members,  if  each  of 
them  had  to  attend  to,  and  oversee  the  whole  of  these 
different  functions ;  but  the  Group,  if  composed  of 
only  twelve  persons,  could  easily  form  twelve  Sub- 
groups, each  consisting  of  three,  four  or  five  indi- 
viduals, with  an  inclination  for  some  particular  branch 
of  the  work,  or  for  several  of  the  twelve.  (The  same 
individual  may  take  a  part  in  several  Groups,  oc- 
cupied consecutively). 

Let  us  examine  how  this  Parcelled  exercise  be- 
comes a  source  of  enthusiasm  and  industrial  perfec- 
tion, developing  a  passion  in  the  human  soul,  which 
we  will  term  the  Composite,  or  love  of  enthusiasm, 
and  which  we  will  explain  in  the  following  chapter. 

Each  one  of  the  Sub-groups  is  animated  by  a  strong 
passion  for  the  parcel  or  branch  of  industry,  which 
it  has  chosen,  and  develops  in  its  exercise  the  dex- 
terity and  intelligence,  which  a  favorite  and  attrac- 
tive occupation  always  calls  forth.  The  consequence 
is,  that  each  of  the  twelve  Sub-groups  depends  upon 
the  other  eleven  giving  to  their  branches  the  greatest 
degree  of  perfection;  each  says  to  the  others:  I 
will  take  the  greatest  possible  care  of  the  part  or 
parcel,  which  I  have  chosen ;  take  the  same  care 
of  yours,  and  the  whole  will  be  perfect. 

The  greater  the  extension  which  is  given  to  this 
Parcelled  exercise,  applying  each  individual  to  func- 
tions which  he  prefers,  and  in  which  he  excels,  the 

10 


146 


GROUPS    AND    SERIES. 


greater  will  be  the  confidence,  charm  and  friendship, 
which  will  animate  the  Group. 

Why  is  labor  such  a  task  in  civilization,  even  in 
case  it  possesses  attraction  ?  It  is  because  the  master 
is  obliged  to  oversee  every  part  of  the  work.  This 
is  a  common  complaint  of  florists  forced  to  emplo}-. 
for  the  laborious  part  of  the  work,  hired  hands,  who 
neglect  or  pilfer  the  seed  and  roots,  if  the  care  of 
planting  and  gathering  is  confided  to  them,  and  who, 
so  far  from  taking  any  interest  in  the  work,  drag 
it  along  slowly  so  as  to  be  occupied  a  few  days  more. 
Thus  it  happens  that  a  man,  who  wishes  to  culti- 
vate fruit  or  flowers,  becomes  disgusted  ;  he  is  aided 
awkwardly  eiren  by  those  hired  persons,  who  are 
well  disposed  ;  his  agricultural  pursuits  become  for 
him  a  source  of  care  and  vexation,  besides  involving 
ihe  risk  of  thefts.  There  is  an  instance  of  a -man, 
who  died  of  despair,  because  all  the  fruit  of  a  garden, 
which  he  had  cultivated  himself,  was  stolen  in  one 
night,  just  as  it  was  ripening. 

Compare  with  the  disgusts  of  this  mechanism  of 
frauds,  called  Civilization,  the  pleasures  of  an  in- 
dustry exercised  in  parcels  and  with  friendly  assso- 
ciates,  in  an  order  of  things,  where  thefts  and  frauds 
are  impossible;  compare  with  the  vexatious  condi- 
tion of  a  civilized  agriculturalist,  the  pleasures  and 
satisfaction  of  these  twelve  Sub-groups,  each  of 
which,  sure  to  excel  in  its  favorite  branch,  depends 
upon  the  eleven  others  to  give  to  their  parts  or  par- 
cels respectively,  that  degree  of  perfection  to  which 


GROUPS   ^ND    SERIES.  147 

0 

it  carries  its  own;  and  decide  after  that,  whether 
civilized  industry  is  compatible  with  the  nature  of 
man,  who  complains  with  reason  that  it  is  an  abyss 
of  deception,  anxiety  and  misfortune. 

Let  us  now  examine  the  system  of  Parcelled  exer- 
cise, as  a  means  of  increasing  industrial  elegance 
and  refinement,  which  are  necessary  to  satisfy  the 
passion  of  Enthusiasm,  or  sentiment  of  exaltation; 
this  passion  admits  of  nothing  like  calm  and  indif- 
ference in  its  operations. 

Each  one  of  the  twelve  Sub-groups  makes  it  a 
point  to  stimulate  the  others  by  proving  to  them,  that 
it  is  a  worthy  co-operation  ;  it  strives,  for  that  pur- 
pose, to  give  the  greatest  degree  of  lustre  to  the  branch 
it  has  chosen ;  and  hence  arise  individual  contribu- 
tions for  the  embellishment  of  each  branch  of  worK 

We  will  suppose  to  illustrate  this,  that  in  two  Groups 
cultivating  two  varieties  of  some  elegant  flower, 
there  are  in  the  Sub-groups  having  the  care  of  awn- 
ings, two  wealthy  members,  both  of  whom  are  emu- 
lous of  public  applause ;  the/  wish  to  make  their 
favorite  flowers  outvie  all  others,  and  they  go  to  the 
expense  of  sumptuous  awnings  with  fringes  and 
festoons.  The  Phalanx  only  furnishes  neat  awnings 
of  striped  linen  ;  they  go  to  the  expense  of  magni- 
ficent ones  in  order  that  visitors,  struck  with  this 
display,  may  be  drawn  towards  their  flowers,  which 
they  wish  should  rank  as  queens  of  the  garden.  *' 

*  The  same  spirit  would  be  aroused  in  all  occupations.  The 
reader  can  niake  further  applications  with  the  aid  of  this  one 
example. 

10* 


148  GROUPS   AND    SERIES. 

Every  rich  man  will  do  as  much  for  the  Sub-group 
of  which  he  is  a  member ;  and  this  co-operation  of 
the  wealthy  will  give  rise  to  a  general  degree  of 
elegance  in  all  branches  of  cultivation  and  manufac- 
tures, and  will  communicate  to  industry  the  charm 
and  elevation  necessary  to  the  development  of  the 
twelfth  passion,  called  the  Composite. 

It  may  be  objected,  that  rich  men  will  not  be 
found  in  Groups  engaged  in  less  attractive  and  pleas- 
ing functions ;  this  will  not  be  so ;  it  will  be  seen 
that  the  system  of  education  followed  in  Associa- 
tion, will  cause  a  development  of  industrial  inclina- 
tions among  the  rich,  which  will  induce  them  to  take 
a  part  in  all  occupations,  provided  there  is  a  suf- 
ficient numerical  proportion  of  wealthy  persons,  and 
that  there  is  a  regular  gradation  of  fortunes. 

We  may  lay  down  as  a  principle,  that  Parcelled 
exercise  creates  in  industry  two  kinds  of  charms : 
first,  material  charm  arising  from  the  elegance  and 
and  display,  which  that  mode  of  exercise  produces 
in  every  branch  of  work;  and  second,  passional 
charm,  resulting  from  the  enthusiasm  which  it  ex- 
cites in  each  Sub-group,  delighted  to  be  exempt  from 
certain  functions  necessarily  connected  with  its 
branch  of  industry,  and  to  be  sure  of  their  being 
exercised  by  intelligent  colleagues. 

The  system  of  Parcelled  exercise  may  take  place 
by  forming  a  Group  composed  of  members,  drawn 
from  several  other  Groups;  if  a  particular  Group  do 
not  possess  enough  members  having  an  inclination 


GROUPS    AND    SERIES.  14V 

for  some  one  function  or  branch,  such  as  the  care 
of  awnings — it  would  be  easy,  by  choosing  among 
several  Groups  or  Series,  to  unite  a  number  of  persons 
with  a  passion  for  this  function,  who  would  perform 
it  for  various  Groups. 

Without  the  system  of  Parcelled  exercise,  the 
Groups  would  not  enjoy  the  charm  of  identity  of 
tastes;  for  among  twelve  persons  with  a  passion  for 
the  tulip,  none  of  the  twelve  will  have  a  love  for  the 
twelve  functions  connected  with  .  its  cultivation ; 
therefore  unless  they  make  a  parcelled  division  of 
their  work  and  distribute  functions  according  to 
tastes,  disagreements  and  discord  will  break  out. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  charm  of  contrast  would 
not  exist  between  two  Groups,  which  did  not  feel  an 
enthusiasm  for  their  respective  functions ;  charm  and 
enthusiasm  are  established  only  by  contrasts  of  har- 
mony, and  not  by  contrasts  of  discord. 

With  the  aid  of  the  system  of  Parcelled  exercise, 
we  shall  see  a  majority  of  women  have  a  love  for 
household  occupations,  for  which  they  feel  at  present 
a  repugnance.  A  woman  who  does  not  like  the  care 
of  children,  will  take  part  in  a  Group  devoted  to 
some  branch  of  sewing;  another  who  detests  cook- 
ing, may  have  a  taste  for  the  preparation  of  jellies; 
she  will  join  the  Group  occupied  with  this  depart- 
ment, in  which  she  may  excel  and  become  presi- 
dent, having  nothing  to  do  with  other  branches  of 
kitchen  occupations.  Women  now  meet  in  their 
household  work  only  with  trouble  and  vexation  ; 


GROUPS    AND    SERIES. 


and  men  in  their  business  with  frauds  and  disgust. 
No  wonder  that  all  have  an  aversion  for  occupa- 
tions, which  are  our  natural  destiny. 

COMPACT    SCALE    AMONG    GROUPS. 

The  principal  effect  of  the  Compact  scale  in  the 
mechanism  of  Series,  is  to  excite  an  emulative  ri- 
valry between  Groups,  cultivating  species  near  enough 
alike  to  excite  hesitation  and  indecision  in  the  opinion 
of  judges  as  to  excellence,  so  as  to  admit  of  an  ac- 
tive strife  on  the  part  of  Groups  for  superiority. 

We  will  not  see  three  Groups  cultivating  three 
varieties  of  a  species  of  pear,  agree ;  these  Groups 
devoted  to  similar  varieties,  are  essentially  jealous 
and  discordant ;  that  is,  a  strong  rivalry  exists  be- 
tween them.  The  same  would  be  the  case  with  three 
Groups  cultivating  the  yellow,  gray  and  green  pip- 
pin, or  the  red  and  white  raspberry.  This  spirit 
of  rivalry  will  always  animate  Groups  occupied  with 
varieties  or  kinds  very  nearly  alike,  in  the  animal, 
vegetable  and  mineral  kingdoms  ;  the  Compact  scale 
with  the  emulation  it  produces,  must  be  extended  to 
all  occupations  of  science,  fine-arts,  manufactures, 
and  in  fact  to  all  our  relations. 

The  discord  of  contiguous  shades  is  a  general  law 
of  nature;  the  color  scarlet  agrees  badly  with  its 
contiguous  reds,  but  perfectly  well  with  its  opposites; 
dark  blue,  dark  green,  white  and  black.  The  note 
D  in  music  does  not  accord  with  C  sharp,  nor  with 
E  flat,  which  are  contiguous  to  it,  and  very  little  with 


GROUPS    AND    SERIES.  151 

1  S 

C  and  K  natural  which  are  sub-contiguous.  In  social 
harmony  as  in  music,  we  require  discords  as  well 
as  accords. 

But  discords,  that  is  emulative  rivalries,  cannot 
take  place  between  Groups  occupied  witli  distinct 
varieties  ;  between  Groups,  for  example,  cultivating 
the  pippin  and  the  bow-apple.  There  exists  between 
these  two  kinds  of  apples  too"  great  a  difference  to 
cause  any  hesitation  on  the  part  of  judges;  they  will 
say  that  they  are  both  good,  but  not  near  enough 
alike  to  admit  of  comparison ;  consequently  rivalry 
and  party  spirit  wiil  not  be  aroused  between  the  two 
Groups,  engaged  in  their  cultivation. 

It  is  necessary  in  ali  Series,  therefore,  whatever 
may  be  their  occupations,  to  form  a  scale  of  func- 
tions contiguous  in  shades  or  varieties;  this  consti- 
tutes the  Compact  scale,  or  scale  of  closely  compared 
varieties. 

This  is  a  sure  mean  of  giving  an  active  develop- 
ment to  the  passion  of  Emulation,  of  carrying  all 
products  to  a  high  degree  of  perfection,  of  exciting 
an  extreme  ardor  in  all  branches  of  work,  and  a 
great  intimacy  among  the  members  of  each  Group. 

This  brilliant  result  would  not  be  attained,  if  general 
refinement  and  delicacy  of  taste  did  not  exist  among 
consumers,  as  well  as  among  producers.  Of  what 
use  would  perfection  in  the  various  branches  of  cul- 
tivation be  to  the  inhabitants  of  a  Phalanx,  if  they 
had  to  deal  with  a  public  uniform  in  their  tastes,  pos- 
sessing no  delicate  discrimination,  eating  only  to 


152  GROUPS    AHD    SERIES. 

moderate  their  passions,  and  neglecting  or  denying 
themselves  all  sensual  refinement  1  —  In  this  case 
general  perfection  in  industry  would  decline  for  want 
of  appreciators,  the  spirit  of  emulation  would  lose 
its  activity  among  the  Groups  of  producers  and  pre- 
parers,  and  agricultural  industry  would  sink  again  into 
the  rude  state,  in  which  we  now  see  it,  where  hardly 
one  civilizee  out  of  a  hundred  is  capable  of  judging, 
of  the  excellence  of  products.  The  result  is  that  the 
seller  who  adulterates  them,  has  ninety-nine  chances 
of  sale  to  one  of  refusal  or  detection ;  hence  it  arises 
that  all  articles  of  consumption  are  so  bad  in  civiliza- 
tion. 

SHORT  OCCUPATIONS. 

We  examine  this  condition  last,  because  it  is  the 
means  of  sustaining  the  other  two.  Without  a  fre- 
quent change  of  occupations,  it  would  be  impossible 
to  keep  alive  the  enthusiasm  and  emulation  which 
arise  from  a  Parcelled  exercise  in  industry,  and  from 
Compactness  of  scale.  It  prevents  satiety  and  mo- 
notony, and  varies  occupations  before  their  continu- 
ance produces  slackness  and  disgust. 

Short  occupations  of  an  hour  and  a  half  or  two 
hours  at  the  most,  would  enable  every  individual  to 
take  part  in  seven  or  eight  occupations  during  the 
course  of  the  day,  and  vary  them  by  joining  other 
Groups  the  day  following.  This  method  is  the 
desire  of  a  powerful  passion  implanted  in  man,  which 
impels  him  to  variety  and  change,  and  to  the  avoid- 


GROUPS    AJfD    SERIES.  153 

ing  of  excesses-a  defect  which  is  constantly  attendant 
upon  all  occupations  in  civilization.  A  labor  is  now 
prolonged  for  six  hours,  a  banquet  for  six  hours, 
a  ball  during  the  entire  night  at  the  expense  of  sleep 
and  health. 

We  insist  upon  the  importance  of  change,  and  the 
necessity  of  short  and  varied  occupations.  This 
principle  condemns  the  entire  system  of  civilized  in- 
dustry :  let  us  examine  its  effects  in  a  material  and 
in  an  intellectual  or  passional  point  of  view. 

MATERIALLY  ;  Short  occupations  produce  an  equi- 
librium of  health,  which  is  necessarily  injured,  if  a 
man  devote  himself  for  twelve  hours  to  a  uniform 
labor,  such  as  weaving,  sewing  or  writing,  or  any 
other  which  does  not  exercise  successively  all  the  parts 
of  the  body,  all  the  faculties  of  the  mind.  In  case 
of  a  continued  application  to  one  occupation,  active 
labor  like  that  of  agriculture,  is  injurious  as  well  as 
sedentary  labor  (such  as  office  duties)  one  over- 
burdens the  members  and  viscera,  and  the  other  vi- 
tiates the  solids  and  fluids. 

The  derangement  is  increased,  if  this  active  or  se- 
dentary labor  be  continued  for  entire  months  and  years. 
We  see  in  many  countries  an  eighth  of  the  laboring 
population  affected  with  hernia  or  ruptures,  besides 
fevers  produced  from  excess  of  labor  and  bad  food. 
Divers  kinds  of  manufactures,  like  chemicals,  glass, 
«teel  and  even  cloths,  cause  the  death  of  the  laborer, 
simply  from  their  protracted  exercise.  He  would  be 
exempt  from  danger,  if  the  condition  of  Short  oc- 


154  GROUPS    AND    SERIES. 

oupations  were  applied  to  those  branches,  and  if  they 
were  carried  on  for  two  hours  at  a  time,  and  only 
two  or  three  times  a  week. 

The  rich  classes  for  want  of  this  diversity  of  oc- 
cupations, fall  into  other  diseases,  like  apoplexy,  gout 
and  rheumatism,  which  are  unknown  to  the  poor 
laborer.  Obesity  or  excess  of  flesh,  so  common 
among  the  rich,  denotes  a  radical  vice  in  the  equi- 
librium of  health,  a  system  contrary  to  nature  in  oc- 
cupations as  well  as  in  pleasures.  The  health  of 
man  is  promoted  by  this  perpetual  variety  of  func- 
tions, which,  exercising  successively  all  parts  of  the 
body,  all  faculties  of  the  mind,  maintains  activity  and 
equilibrium. 

INTELLECTUALLY  OR  PASSION  ALLY  :  it  promotes  the  ac- 
cord of  characters  which  are  naturally  antipathetic : 
example,  A  and  B  are  two  persons  of  incompatible 
tastes,  but  it  happens  that  among  a  large  number  of 
Groups  which  A  frequents,  there  are  a  third  in  which 
his  interests  coincide  with  those  of  B,  and  in  which 
the  tastes  of  B,  although  opposed  to  his,  are  of  ad- 
vantage to  him.  The  same  is  the  case  with  the 
tastes  of  B  as  respects  A.  Consequently  without 
friendship  existing  between  them,  they  are  courteous 
to  and  esteem  each  other. 

Thus  interest,  which  separates  friends  in  civiliza- 
tion, unites  enemies  even  in  the  combined  order;  it 
conciliates  antipathetic  characters  by  indirect  co- 
operation, which  arises  from  connexions  and  changes 
of  functions,  produced  by  short  occupations. 


GROUPS    AND    SERIES. 


155 


It  is  by  these  short  periods  of  occupation  that  a 
Serie,  were  it  only  composed  of  thirty  persons,  can 
introduce  its  members  into  a  hundred  other  Series, 
and  form  with  them  a  hundred  ties  of  friendship  and 
interest.  It  will  be  shown  later,  that  this  connexion 
of  the  Series  through  a  reciprocal  exchange  of  mem- 
bers, is  indispensable  to  attain  the  two  principle  ends 
and  Bairns  of  Association,  which  are — first,  equitable 
division  of  profits  according  to  labor,  capital  and 
skill ;  *  second,  perfect  harmony  of  pecuniary  in- 
terests through  the  means  of  self-interest,  which  is 
now  the  most  fruitful  source  of  discords.  The  in- 
terests of  a  man  connected  with  thirty  Series,  are  so 
extended  that  he  is  led  to  desire  an  impartial  distribu- 
tion of  profits. 

It  is  consequently  with  the  aid  of  the  passion, 
which  is  the  most  proscribed  by  moralists  and  phi- 
losophers, the  Alternating  or  passion  of  change,  that 
we  shall  solve  those  problems  which  have  baffled  all 
their  efforts.  What  an  error  they  have  committed 
in  not  going  into  a  calculation  of  Short  occupations, 
and  the  results  which  they  would  produce !  We 
ought  to  be,  like  moralists,  the  enemies  of  nature 
and  of  palpable  evidence  to  deny  this  want  of  variety, 

*  The  total  product  of  a  Phalanx  from  all  sources,  agri- 
culture, manufactures,  etc.,  is  divided  into  three  parts,  or  di- 
vidends, bearing1  to  each  other  the  following  proportion ;  five- 
twelfths  to  labor,  fbur-twellths  to  capital,  three-twelfths  to 
skill.  Kvory  man,  woman  and  child  receives  on  the  day  of 
the  yearly  settlement,  a  portion  of  one,  two  or  all  the  above 
dividends,  according  to  his  or  her  labor,  capital  or  skill. 


156  GROUPS   AMD    SBRIBS. 

which  we  sec  so  essential  even  in  material  matters. 
Any  enjoyment  which  is  continued  for  too  long  a 
time,  becomes  an  abuse,  blunts  the  senses,  and  des- 
troys its  pleasure  ;  a  repast  continued  for  four  hours 
will  not  be  terminated  without  excesses;  an  opera 
of  four  hours  duration  will  end  by  becoming  insipid 
to  the  hearer.  Periodical  variety  is  a  want  of  the 
soul  as  well  as  of  the  body. 


, 


THE    PASSIONS.  157 


CHAPTER  TWELFTH. 

THE    PASSIONS. 

Of  all  impieties,  the  worst  is  that  impertinent  prejudice, 
which  suspects  the  Divinity  of  having  created  men,  the 
passions  and  the  materials  of  industry,  without  having 
fixed  upon  any  plan  for  their  organization. 

Fourier. 

We  explained  in  the  foregoing  chapter  the  three 
conditions,  which  are  of  absolute  necessity  in  the 
formation  of  Series,  namely  :  COMPACT  SCALE,  SHORT 
OCCUPATION,  PARALELLED  EXERCISE.  These  conditions 
are  produced  by  the  action  of  three  passions  im- 
planted within  us,  which  have  escaped  the  attention 
of  philosophers,  and  have  not  been  comprehended, 
because  in  civilization,  it  is  impossible  to  conceive 
to  what  use  and  purpose  they  are  to  be  applied.  The 
civilized  mechanism  is  totally  unsuited  to  the  pas- 
sions, particularly  to  these  three,  which  in  it  only 
lead  to  disorder,  and  are  condemned  as  vices.  To 
have  comprehended  perfectly  their  nature,  it  was 
necessary  to  have  discovered  the  organization  of  the 
Groups  and  Series,  which  would  have  shown  us 
their  importance,  and  the  wisdom  of  the  Divinity  in 
giving  them  to  us.  They  impel  us  to  fulfil  the  above 


158  THE    PASSIONS. 

conditions  in  the  exercise  of  industry,  which  con- 
ditions consequently  are  to  be  considered  EFFECTS, 
and  the  three  passions  corresponding  to  them, 
CAUSES.  Before  going  further,  we  will  proceed  to 
examine  briefly  the  fundamental  springs  of  action, 
the  passions,  implanted  by  the  Creator  in  man  to  di- 
rect him  rightly  in  the  Social  order  pre-composed  for 
him,  and  to  which  those  passions  are  adapted. 

THE  UNIVERSE    embraces  three  principles: 

1st.  THE  ACTIVE,  or  great  creating  principle,  which 
distributes  the  harmonies  and  regulates  the  move- 
ment of  the  Universe: — GOD. 

2d.  THE  PASSIVE  principle,  which  is  acted  upon  : — 
MATTER. 

3d.  THE  NEUTER  principle,  or  the  LAWS  which  the 
Divinity  follows  in  his  creations,  and  from  which  he 
never  deviates;  those  laws  are  based  on  principles 
of  mathematical  harmony,  justice  and  unity. 

Man  "  created  in  the  image  of  the  Divinity  "  is  a 
little  compound  of  these  three  principles.  The  active 
principle  within  him  is  the  soul,  which  is  a  Scale  of 
twelve  primary  passions  or  harmonies. 

The  passive  principle  is  the  body,  the  implement 
through  which  the  soul  acts  upon,  and  communicates 
with  the  outward  or  material  world. 

The  neuter  principle  is  the  mind,  the  faculties  of 
reason,  which  possess  the  power  of  comprehending 
the  laws,  which  regulate  the  movement  of  the  Uni- 
verse. The  especial  task  of  the  mind  with  its  facul- 


THE    PASSIONS.  159 

ties  is  to  discover  the  law  of  Universal  movement,  the 
Serie,  which  distributes  all  its  harmonies,  and  ap- 
ply it  to  the  organization  of  society,  which  would 
guarantee  to  the  passions  a  free  and  a  full  development, 
and  to  man  the  attainment  of  his  destiny.  This  is 
the  great  problem  to  be  solved ;  no  globe  can  or- 
ganize social  harmony,  until  the  law  regulating  the 
action  of  the  passions,  is  discovered.  FOURIER,  in 
his  discovery  of  the  mechanism  of  the  Series  of 
Groups,  has  accomplished  this  important  task,  ne- 
glected by  all  men  of  science,  both  ancient  and  mo- 
dern, because  they  took  it  for  granted  that  the  pas- 
sions were  bad  and  incapable  of  harmony,  and  be- 
cause minor  pre-occupations  turned  their  attention 
from  the  subject. 

The  principle  which  we  shall  specially  examine, 
is  the  active  or  passional  element  in  man.  The  table 
annexed  gives  a  general  view  of  the  twelve  radical 
passions  with  their  tendencies.  The  study  of  the 
passions  and  those  tendencies  should  have  been  the 
primary  object  of  the  investigation  of  science.  Hailit 
discovered  the  law  which  regulates  THEIR  ACTION,  it 
covld  have  deduced  from  that  law  a  social  system 
adapted  to  them,  which  would  have  enabled  man  to 
attain  to  his  destiny.  As  there  is  unity  of  system  in  the 
Universe — that  is,  as  the  same  laws  which  regulate 
the  passional  system  in  man,  regulate  all  other 
branches  of  movement,  (for  the  Divinity  "does  not 
make  use  of  two  different  laws  of  harmony,  two  sys- 
tems for  regulating  the  operations  of  creation,) — if 


160 


THE    PASSIONS. 


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THE   PASSIONS.  161 

we  can  discover  the  laws  which  regulate  the  pas- 
sions, as  we  have  discovered  those  which  regulate 
the  harmonies  of  sounds,  we  have  the  key  to  the  other 
Movements,  of  which  there  are  five. 

LIST    OF    THE    FOUR    CARDINAL    AND    THE    PIVOTAL 

MOVEMENTS. 

"4th.  THE  MATERIAL  MOVEMENT.  The  theory  of 
our  astronomers  explains  EFFECTS  but  not  CAUSES  ;  it 
explains  the  laws  according  to  which  God  regulates 
the  movement  of 'matter •,  but  remains  silent  on  every 
thing  relating  to  CAUSES. 

"  3d.  THE  AROMAL  MOVEMENT,  *  or  distribution  of 
known  and  unknown  aromas,  operating  actively  and 
passively  on  the  animal,  vegetable  and  mineral  king- 
doms. We  have  no  regular  theory  of  these  aromas, 
nor  of  the  influence,  which  they  exercise,  particularly 
in  the  movements  of  the  planets,  which  are  regulated 
by  aromal  affinities. 

"  2d.  THE  ORGANIC  MOVEMENT.  The  laws,  accord- 
ing to  which  God  distributes  forms,  properties,  colors, 
flavors,  etc.,  to  all  substances,  created  or  to  be  created 
on  the  different  planets.  Up  to  the  present  time  we 
have  no  knowledge  of  the  CAUSES  of  distributions, 
which  have  taken  place  in  the  present  creation,  nor 
of  the  EFFECTS  and  CAUSES  of  products  of  future  crea- 
tion. " 

*  The  aromal  kingdom  comprises  all  those  invisible,  im- 
ponderable fluids,  a  few  of  which  are  known  under  the  names 
of  electricity,  heat,  light,  galvanism,  magnetism,  etc. 

11 


162  THE    PASSIONS. 

"•  1st.  THE  INDUSTRIAL  MOVEMENT,  or  laws  accord- 
ing  to  which  passions  and  instincts  are  distributed 
to  all  creatures  of  past,  present  and  future  creation 
on  the  different  Globes.  We  know  nothing  of  the 
distributive  system  of  instincts,  nor  of  the  causes, 
which  have  regulated  this  distribution. 

"J^  THE  SOCIAL  OR  PASSIONAL  MOVEMENT  ;  the  laws, 
according  to  which  God  regulates  the  order  and  suc- 
cession of  the  various  social  mechanisms  on  all  globes. 
Of  this  pivotal  movement,  our  sciences  have  explained 
neither  effects  nor  causes ;  nor  have  they  discovered 
any  means  of  establishing  social  unity,  which  implies 
Harmony  of  the  passions  without  repressive  meas- 
ures. 


"  # 


The  first  nine  passions  in  the  table,  the  five  Sen- 
sitive and  the  four  Affective,  are  well  known.  The 

*  "  It  appears  frora  the  above  table,  that  of  the  five  branches 
of  which  Universal  movement  is  composed,  only  one  is  known, 
the  material,  the  least  important  of  the  five;  and  this  move- 
ment has  only  been  understood  since  Newton,  who  explained 
its  effects,  but  not  its  causes;  that  is,  he  explained  one-half 
of' the  theory  of  one  of  the  five  branches.  A  strange  void  in 
science  is,  that  the  existence  of  the  third  branch  of  movement, 
the  arojnal,  is  hardly  suspected :  it  has  never  been  an  object 
of  investigation  ;  it  performs,  nevertheless,  an  important  part 
in  the  Harmony  of  the  material  part  of  the  Universe,  Harmony 
which  our  natural  philosophers,  for  want  of  the  knowledge  of 
the  aromal  system,  have  only  iu  part  explained.  Put  to  them 
questions  of  aroinal  equilibrium  like  the  three  following,  and 
they  can  give  no  answer. 

"  1st.  What  is  the  law  of  the  movements  of  planets!  Why 
does  Vesta,  the  smallest  of  them,  revolve  around  no  other, 
not  even  around  the  enormous  Jupiter,  near  which  she  is 
placed  1 

44  2d.    What  is  the  law  of  the  distribution  of  satellites  ?  Why 


THE    PASSIONS, 

former  tend  to  elegance,  riches,  material  refinement 
and  to  the  embelishment  of  every  thing  which  sur- 
rounds us.  The  sense  of  hearing  requires  harmonies 
of  sounds  or  music  ;  that  of  sight,  harmonies  of  co- 
lors, lines  and  combination  of  masses;  that  of  smell, 
fragrant  perfumes  ;  that  of  taste,  delicacy  and  variety 
in  flavors  ;  that  of  touch,  agreeable  temperature  and 
clothing,  salubrious  air,  etc. 

If  these  passions  be  fully  developed  and  counter- 
balanced, they  direct  man  rightly,  to  heatlh  and  the 
enjoyment  of  his  sensual  faculties.  But  in  our  pre- 
sent societies,  so  far  from  being  developed  and  satis- 
lied, -they  are  suppressed  and  outraged  in  every  way. 
A  few  rich  enjoy  the  luxuries  of  the  table,  wrhile  the 
great  mass  arc  reduced  to  a  miserable  and  monot- 
onous food,  of  which  even  they  have  not  always  a 
sufficiency.  No  doubt  fine  music,  the  contemplation 
of  agreeable  objects  in  nature  and  the  fine  arts,  and 
fragrant  perfumes,  contribute  to  health:  if  a  system 
could  be  organized  in  which  they  could  be  effec- 
tually introduced,  we  would  find  them  exercising  a 
powerful  influence.  Who  now  can  think  of  fully 
enjoying  them  ?  Not  even  the  rich.  With  the  cares 
and  vexations  of  life,  all  its  more  delicate  enjoyments 

has  Hershcl,  which  is  only  one-quarter  the  size  of  Jupiter, 
a  larger  number,  and  double  if  complete!  (Jupiter  four,  Her- 
schcl  eight.) 

"3d.  What  is  the  law  of  the  positions  or  planes  assigned  to 
planets  1  Why  is  Ilerschell,  which  is  only  one-fourth  the  size 
of  Jupiter,  four  times  as  distant  from  the  sun  1  From  analogy 
the  Earth  should  be  placed  far  behind  the  orbit  of  Hcrschel.  " 

11  * 


164  THE    PASSIONS. 

are  overlooked  and  neglected.  In  our  incoherent 
cities,  devoid  of  harmonic  architecture,  we  are  ex- 
posed to  heat  and  rains  for  want  of  permanent  awn- 
ings over  our  sidewalks  ;  to  the  stenches  of  sewers 
and  gutters ;  to  the  din  of  carts ;  the  cries  of  street- 
Arenders ;  and  to  a  miasmatic  atmosphere.  How 
beautifully  would  the  harmonies  of  a  Phalanx  con- 
trast with  our  civilized  cities  ; — there  the  freshness 
and  loveliness  of  nature  could  be  united  with  the 
gaiety  and  enjoyments  of  social  life  and  extended 
relations !  After  taste,  the  most  important  sense 
to  satisfy  is  that  of  sight,  which  like  the  others  is 
offended  in  every  way;  the  dark  and  filthy  work- 
shops of  civilization  are  alone  sufficient  to  disgust 
the  workmen;  its  monotonous  and  tiresome  fields,  to 
deaden  all  enthusiasm  for  nature. 

The  four  affective  passions,  Friendship,  Love, 
Ambition  and  Paternity,  are  equally  smothered  and 
perverted  by  the  present  system.  They  thwart  each 
other  in  their  developments,  and  lead  to  vice  and  ex- 
cesses. What  can  be  more  beautiful  than  the  passion 
Love !  What  a  fountain  of  delight  placed  in  the 
soul  of  man!  And  yet  to  what  interminable  disorder 
does  it  not  lead  in  the  present  order  of  things !  Set- 
ting aside  badly  assorted  matches,  which  cause  a 
passive  misery  for  life  that  society  overlooks,  we  see 
this  passion  in  our  subversive  societies  so  perverted 
and  misdirected,  that  jealousy,  infanticide,  despair 
and  insanity  are  its  frequent  accompaniments.  It 
may  be  thought  that  the  passion  Paternity  causes  no 


THE    PASSIONS.  165 

evil:  it  produces,  it  is  true,  no  active  disorder  like 
love,  but  it  is  the  source  of  infinite  selfishness;  a 
man  entrenched  in  his  isolated  household,  with  few 
relations  with  the  beings  around  him,  is  indifferent 
to  their  welfare  and  happiness.  If  the  children  of 
a  poor  family  a  few  houses  off",  be  neglected — brought 
up  in  ignorance,  perhaps  half  the  time  without  food, 
huddled  away  in  damp  cellars — he  does  not  feel  for 
;hem;  and  in  truth,  when  we  reflect  upon  the  anxie- 
ties with  which  almost  every  man  is  loaded  in  ci- 
vilization, who  has  a  family  to  bring  up,  it  is  not 
surprising. 

As  to  Ambition,  there  is  no  end  to  the  active  evil 
of  which  it  is  the  cause.  If  it  agitate  the  mind  of  a 
powerful  monarch,  it  may  bathe  a  continent  in  blood. 
The  globe  has  been,  at  no  time  since  the  records  of 
history,  without  a  dozen  wars  of  ambition  raging  on 
its  surface.  If  we  examine  the  annals  of  England 
and  France  for  seven  centuries  past,  we  shall  find 
that  they  have  been  engaged  in  active  strife  and  war 
during  three  hundred  years  of  the  time!  Thus  the 
passions  in  the  false  societies  which  have  existed, 
lead  invariably  to  discord,  anarchy  and  crime. 

If  we  question  moralists,  or  men  in  general  on  the 
subject  of  the  passions,  and  give  them  time  to  reflect, 
they  will  not  perhaps  condemn  them  entirely;  they 
will  say  that  it  is  the  excesses  of  those  passions, 
which  lead  to  evil,  that  if  properly  governed  by 
reason,  and  duly  repressed,  that  some  action  may 
be  allowed  them.  If  we  examine  however  the  dc- 


THE    PASSIONS. 

gree  of  repression  necessary  to  guarantee  them  from 
excesses  in  the  present  social  mechanism,  we  shall  find 
that  scarcely  any  action  is  left  them,  which  amounts 
in  fact  to  their  entire  condemnation. 

We  will  now  proceed  to  examine  three  other  pas- 
sions, which  are  proscribed  entirely  and  without  re- 
serve. If  we  can  prove  that  these  three  springs  of 
action  are  indispensable  to  give  perfection  and  charm 
to  industry;  that  the  whole  mechanism  of  the  Series, 
and  of  Association  and  social  Unity,  is  based  upon 
them ;  that  the  Creator  consequently  has  acted  most 
wisely  in  giving  them  to  us ;  it  will  perhaps  lead  men 
to  change  their  opinions  as  regards  the  other  nine, 
and  induce  them  to  believe,  that  in  a  different  social 
order,  their  developments  may  be  sublime,  worthy 
of  the  Divinity  who  has  given  them  to  man  to  impel 
him  to  fulfil  the  destiny  he  has  to  accomplish  on  this 
earth,  a  part  of  which  is  its  universal,  integral  culti- 
vation. 

We  will  give  to  the  three  directing  passions — so 
called  because  they  regulate  or  distribute  the  other 
nine — three  different  names,  so  as  to  leave  the  reader 
a  choice, 

10th.    The  Emulative,  Cabalist,  Dissident. 

llth.    The  Alternating,  Connecting,  Changing. 

12th.    The  Composite,  Exalting,  Concordant. 
10th.     THE  CABALIST  *  or  party  spirit  is  a  passion 

*  We  derive  Cabalist  from  Cabal,  and  use  it  as  the  general 
name  for  a  powerful  passion  in  man,  which  is  not  compre- 
hensively explained  by  the  terms,  emulation,  rivalry,  party 
spirit. 


THE    PASSIONS.  167 

of  rivalry  and  intrigue,  which  is  strong  in  the  am- 
bitious, in  courtiers,  politicians,  secret  corporations 
and  in  the  commercial  world, 

The  satisfaction,  of  this  passion  is  so  imperative  a 
want  of  the  human  mind,  that  in  the  absence  of  real 
rivalries,  it  seeks  with  avidity  in  our  present  socie- 
ties ficticious  ones,  at  the  theatre,  in  novels  or  at 
cards.  If  a  party  be  given,  some  artificial  intrigue 
must  be  created  for  the  guests,  cards  must  be  put  in 
their  hands,  or  a  political  cabal  concerted.  No  be- 
ing, for  example,  is  more  miserable  than  a  courtier 
exiled  to  a  little  town,  where  he  is  without  intrigue  ; 
or  a  merchant  retired  from  business,  notwithstanding 
his  wealth,  and  suddenly  withdrawn  from  his  mer- 
cantile projects  and  schemes,  which  are  intrigues  in 
their  way,  and  which  are  very  numerous. 

The  Creator  has  given  us  this  passion,  because, 
in  a  system  of  attractive  industry,  every  man,  wo- 
man and  child  must  be  a  member  of  a  large  number 
of  Series,  and  take  a  strong  interest  in  the  rivalries 
and  pretensions  of  one  of  the  Groups  of  the  Series, 
or  of  even  two  or  three.  An  individual  may  belong 
to  several  Groups  of  the  same  Serie,  but  not  to  two 
contiguous  ones. 

In  the  foregoing  chapter,  we  examined  the  prac- 
tical use  and  application  of  this  passion  in  exciting 
emulation  and  rivalry  between  Groups,  to  do  which, 
it  is  necessary  to  create,  as  we  observed,  indecision 
among  judges,  as  to  the  superior  excellence  of  the 
objects  with  which  the  Groups  are  occupied.  There 


168  TUB    PASSIONS. 

would  be  no  hesitation,  if  it  were  necessary  to  de- 
cide upon  the  comparative  excellence  of  two  species, 
which  were  materially  different,  or  pronounce  an 
opinion  upon  the  rank,  which  two  Groups  should 
hold,  one  cultivating  the  bow-apple  and  another  the 
pippin ;  or  one  breeding  the  Flanders  and  the  other 
the  Arabian  horse ;  but  there  would  be  difference  of 
opinion,  hesitation  among  judges  and  controversy 
upon  two  varieties  of  the  pippin,  or  of  the  Arabian 
horse. 

This  balance  of  approbation  will  call  forth  emula- 
tion and  rival  pretensions  between  the  Groups,  cul- 
tivating the  two  rival  horses.  This  opposition  is  the 
aliment  of  the  passion  called  the  Cabalist;  it  is  active 
and  vehement,  when  Series  are  operating  upon 
varieties,  but  not  so  when  operating  upon  species; 
this  passion  requires  the  most  minute  and  compact 
gradations  possible.  This  system,  the  effect  of  one 
of  the  most  proscribed  passions  in  civilization,  will 
be  the  source  of  a  general  perfection  of  industry  in 
Asssociation. 

12th.  THE  COMPOSITE  ;  this  passion  to  be  de- 
veloped, requires  the  enjoyment  of  at  least  two  plea- 
sures at  the  same  time;  one  of  the  senses,  and  one 
of  the  class  of  affectives.  *  To  be  applied  to  industry, 
a  double  allurement  or  an  assemblage  of  two  kinds 

*  To  awaken  the  Composite,  the  mind  must  be  placed  in 
such  a  position,  as  to  enjoy  two  pleasures  simultaneously,  one 
material  and  the  other  intellectual ;  this  passion  once  awakened 
or  developed,  produces  that  exaltation,  that  enthusiasm,  which 
is  the  highest  and  most  exalted  of  enjoyments.  We  will  choose 


THE    PASSIONS.  169 

of  pleasures,  must  be  offered  to  the  workman,  in 
order  to  awaken  enthusiasm  within  him.  These 
conditions  are  not  at  all  compatible  with  civilized 

some  familiar  example  to  explain  practically  its  effect.  Let 
us  suppose  our  reader  is  invited  to  a  sumptuous  banquet, 
where  every  delicacy  that  can  please  the  palate  is  provided. 
The  rooms  are  splendid,  and  he  is  with  friends,  between  him- 
self and  whom  exists  perfect  sympathy  of  characters,  which  is 
increased  by  identity  of  tastes  in  many  of  their  occupations, 
and  by  reciprocal  good  offices.  Two  passions  are  here  de- 
veloped and  satisfied :  the  pleasures  of  the  table  and  the  charm 
of  friendship ; — upon  this  the  Composite  begins  to  act :  an  ef- 
fusion of  feeling  and  an  enthusiasm  take  place,  which  permit 
the  spontaneous  action  of  the  sympathies  of  the  heart,  without 
any  of  the  restraints  or  calculations  of  interest  If  we  sup- 
pose strains  of  fine  music  at  intervals,  we  add  another  source 
of  charm ;  and  three  passions,  one  affective  and  two  sensitive, 
are  satisfied.  Where  find  another  affective  to  increase  the  in- 
tensity of  the  Composite  !  We  may  find  it  in  love,  if  we  sup- 
pose some  ladies  present,  one  of  whom  our  reader  admires, 
and  whose  addresses  are  favorably  received  ;  but  we  will  seek 
it  in  preference  in  ambition.  Our  reader,  by  a  careful  study 
of  the  mechanism  of  the  Groups  and  Series,  has  comprehended 
that  it  is  a  wonderful  law,  which  distributes  the  harmonies  of 
the  passion?,  as  the  musical  scale  or  gamut  distributes  the 
harmonies  of  sounds;  and  that  the  passions  thus  developed, 
are  the  sublimest  work  of  the  Divinity,  the  source  of  all  plea- 
sure, the  charm  of  life,  the  stimulant  to  useful  industry.  He 
is  also  convinced,  that  civilization  with  its  thousand  systems 
of  repression  and  constraint,  is  a  labyrinth  of  error  ;  the  other 
guests  concur  with  him  in  this  opinion  ;  he  is  called  upon  for 
a  speech  ;  he  rises,  and  in  an  eloquent  manner,  vindicates  the 
wisdom  of  the  Divinity  in  the  creation  of  the  passions,  the 
dignity  of  human  nature,  when  those  passioQs  are  harmoniously 
developed,  the  nobleness  of  labor  when  the  stimulants,  which 
the  Groups  and  Series  call  forth,  are  applied  to  it,  and  when 
it  has  as  object  the  cultivation  and  embellishment  of  the  vast 
ijlobe ;  he  then  points  out  the  high  destiny  reserved  to  man, 
the  possibility  of  its  realization,  and  concludes  by  showing  how 
every  sentiment  of  justice  and  charity  to  mankind,  calls  upon 
the  good  will  of  men  to  aid  in  accomplishing  this  great  object. 
Ilia  discourse  is  received  with  unbounded  applause  by  all  the 
guests,  already  predisposed  by  the  action  of  the  Composite  to 


170  THE    PASSIOJfS. 

labor,  which,  so  far  from  offering  any  allurement 
either  to  the  senses  or  the  soul,  is  a  torment  for 
both.  Take  as  example  the  greatest  and  most  cele- 
brated manufactories  of  civilization — those  of  Eng- 
land, where  we  find  men  and  children,  working  from 
twelve  to  sixteen  hours  a  day  in  confined  rooms,  with- 
out circulation  of  air. 

Social  labor,  that  of  Groups  and  Series,  charms 
the  senses,  because  each  Group  is  devoted  .to  a 
variety  which  it  has  chosen  from  passion.  He,  who 
has  a  taste  for  the  Arabian  horse  only,  will  refuse  to 

bursts  of  enthusiasm:  his  ambition  is  fully  satisfied;  a  fourth 
passion  increases  the  intensity  of  his  exaltation  and  delight. 

Napoleon  in  his  battles  knew  how  to  excite,  through  the 
stimulants  of  glory,  music  and  other  means,  an  enthusiasm 
which  was  irresistable.  Whenever  the  Composite  can  be 
aroused,  you  double  and  treble  the  power  of  men  in  every 
way,  in  physical  efforts  and  in  devotion. 

We  may  say  that  the  Composite  is  aroused  by  other  pas- 
sions, first  acting  on  the  soul,  as  those  passions  are  aroused 
by  exterior  objects.  As  hearing  is  awakened  b)'  sounds;  love 
by  the  presence  of  a  beautiful  being ;  taste  by  the  contact  of 
the  tongue  with  flavors,  so  the  Composite  is  awakened  by  the 
action  of  two  or  more  of  these  passions  upon  the  sensitive 
power  within  us. 

We  see  a  terrible  subversion  at  present  of  this  passion  in  the 
thirst  for  ardent  liquors,  or  intoxication.  There  ate  persons, 
who,  for  the  want  of  the  satisfaction  of  this  passion  in  the  pre- 
sent order,  and  who,  possessing  no  counterpoise  strong  enough 
to  check  it,  seek  in  alcohol,  opium,  etc.,  a  confused,  brutal 
excitement,  which  is  to  the  real  passion,  what  Civilization  is 
to  the  Combined  order. 

As  we  have  said,  man  is  destined  to  compound  happiness  or 
compound  misery;  if  he  discover  the  mechanism  of  the  Series, 
and  apply  it  to  his  social  and  industrial  relations,  he  attains 
the  former;  if  he  do  not  discover  it,  he  sinks,  by  the  priva- 
tion of  a  harmonic  development  of  the  passions,  and  by  the 
absence  of  attractive  industry,  which  that  mechanism  can 
nlone  guarantee,  into  compound  suffering. 


THE    PASSIONS.  171 

take  a  part  in  the  Groups  devoted  to  the  breeding  of 
other  varieties. 

Thus  much  for  this  kind  of  charm,  which  the 
Series  satisfy ;  as  to  intellectual  charm,  it  is  excited 
by  associating  a  mass  of  members,  who  are  enthu- 
siastic in  the  breeding  of  the  Arabian,  proud  of  their 
elegant  stables,  their  fine  studs  of  horses,  and  of  the 
praises  which  their  favorite  animal  receives  from 
neighbouring  Phalanxes,  and  from  strangers. 

To  adapt  us  to  industry  exercised  in  Groups  and 
Series,  productive  always  of  a  two-fold  charm,  the 
Creator  has  subjected  us  to  the  action  of  the  twelfth 
passion,  called  the  Composite,  which  requires  this 
union  of  two  kinds  of  pleasures,  and  the  enthusiasm 
which  they  excite  among  the  divers  Groups  of  a 
Scrie.  Science  places  man  in  revolt  with  the  Di- 
vinity in  giving  him  as  guides  the  cold  calculations 
of  reason,  when  the  Creator  has  given  him  com- 
pound enthusiasm,  as  his  directing  impulse. 

The  Composite  is  the  mo?t  beautiful  of  the  twelve 
passions,  the  one  which  enhances  the  value  of  ali 
the  others.  Love  is  only  truly  beautiful,  when  it  is 
compound  love,  uniting  the  charm  of  the  senses  and 
that  of  the  soul.  It  is  vulgar  or  illusive,  when  li- 
mited to  one  of  its  modes  of  development.  Ambition 
is  only  vehement  so  far  as  it  puts  in  play  two  springs 
of  action,  glory  and  interest.  It  is  then  that  it  be- 
comes capable  of  brilliant  efforts. 

The  COMPOSITE  commands  so  perfectly  our  respect, 
that  we  despise  persons  inclined  to  simple  pleasures. 


172  THE    PASSIONS. 

If  a  man  provides  his  table  with  delicacies  of  all 
kinds,  and  enjoys  them  isolatedly  merely  to  gor- 
mandize, he  exposes  himself  to  well  merited  sarcasm. 
But  if  he  invites  a  well  selected  company,  so  that 
intellectual  as  well  as  material  pleasure  is  called 
forth,  he  is  extolled,  because  his  banquets  unite  a 
two  fold  charm.  If  we  feel  a  contempt  for  simple 
material  pleasure,  we  feel  it  also  for  simple  intel- 
lectual pleasure ;  for  parties,  for  example,  where 
there  is  neither  eating,  dancing,  music  nor  anything 
for  the  senses,  and  where  the  guests  only  enjoy  them- 
selves in  imagination.  Such  a  party,  devoid  of  the 
Composite,  or  pleasure  of  the  senses  and  of  the  soul, 
becomes  perfectly  insipid  and  insupportable. 

list.  The  ALTERNATING  or  passion  of  variety. 
Although  eleventh  in  rank,  we  examine  it  after  the 
two  former,  because  it  is  the  link  which  connecis 
them.  If  ,the  occupations  of  the  Series  were  to  be 
prolonged  from  twelve  to  fifteen  hours,  like  those  of 
civilized  laborers,  who,  from  morning  to  night,  are 
confined  to  an  insipid  function  without  diversion,  the 
Creator  would  have  given  us  a  taste  for  monotony, 
a  dislike  of  variety.  But — as  Serial  occupations  must 
be  very  short,  and  as  the  enthusiasm  which  the  Com- 
posite inspires,  cannot  be  sustained  more  thnn  an 
hour  and  a  half,  or  two  hours — the  Creator,  to  adapt 
us  to  this  industrial  order,  must  have  given  us  a  pas- 
sion for  change,  a  want  of  frequent  variety  in  pur- 
suits, and  of  periodical  variety  in  the  phases  of  life. 
Instead  of  a  labor  of  twelve  hours  interrupted  only 


THE    PASSIONS.  173 

by  a  scanty  dinner,  the  combined  order  will  never 
extend  any  labor  beyond  one  and  a  half  or  two  hours, 
and  even  then  will  connect  various  enticements  or 
charms  with  it,  such  as  the  assemblage  of  the  two 
sexes  in  Groups,  termination  of  its  labors  with  a  col- 
lation— after  which  the  members  disperse,  joining 
other  groups,  with  changes  of  company  and  rivalries. 
Without  this  h)  pothesis  of  a  system  of  combined 
labor,  exercised  in  Series,  it  would  be  impossible  to 
conceive  for  what  purpose  the  Creator  had  given  us 
three  passions,  so  totally  unadapted  to  the  monotony 
of  civilization,  and  so  tempestuous  in  this  social  order, 
that  they  are  not  even  ranked  as  passions,  but  mere- 
ly as  vices. 

The  passion  of  change  may  be  a  vice  in  the  ci- 
vilized mechanism,  which  is  incompatible  with  na- 
ture, but  it  is  not  the  less  one  of  ihe  most  evident  of 
wants  of  all  the  creations  ;  races  of  animals  require 
crosses  and  changes  ;  without  them  they  degenerate; 
the  soil  requires  changes  of  crops,  and  even  of  seeds: 
for  wheat  will  not  grow  as  well  on  the  soil  which 
produced  it,  as  in  some  neighboring  field.  Our  sto- 
machs require  in  an  equal  degree  this  change;  a 
periodical  variety  of  food  sharpens  the  appetite  and 
aids  digestion.  All  nature  requires  change;  it  is  the 
most  evident  of  facts,  and  still  moralists  would  wish 
to  suppress  this  passion,  as  it  tends  to  violate  their 
monotonous  laws. 

A  Serie  cannot  be  organized  without    the  per- 
manent action  of  the  three  directing  passions,  which 


174  THE    PASSIONS. 

we  have  above  described.  They  must  intervene  con- 
tinually and  simultaneously  in  the  rivalries  of  the 
Series.  These  three  passions  have  not  been  under- 
stood, because  the  Serial  mechanism,  for  which  they 
were  created,  has  not  been  discovered,  and  con- 
sequently they  have  been  and  are  still  considered  vices. 
When  we  are  acquainted  in  detail  with  the  social 
order  to  which  we  are  destined,  we  shall  see  that 
these  pretended  vices ,  the  Cabalist,  Alternating  and 
Composite,  become  three  guarantees  of  virtue  and 
riches  ;  that  the  Creator  has  known  perfectly  well  in 
what  manner  to  create  the  passions,  so  as  to  be 
adapted  to  social  unity ;  that  he  would  be  wrong  to 
change  them  to  please  Seneca  or  Plato;  and  that 
human  reason,  instead  of  criticising  his  work,  should 
exert  itself  to  discover  a  social  system  in  affinity 
with  them.  No  moral  theory  wiil  ever  change  them, 
and  according  to  the  law  of  DUALITY  of  Desiiny,  * 
they  will  intervene  perpetually  to  lead  us  to  EVIL  in 
civilization,  and  to  GOOD  in  Association. 

*  There  is  duality  or  double  movement  in  the  destiny  of 
mankind,  because  two  distinct  orders  of  societies  can  be  or- 
ganized on  the  earth,  one  subversive  and  the  other  harmonic. 
During  the  first  ages  of  a  globe,  while  the  race  upon  it  are 
developing  their  material  and  intellectual  existence,  a  period 
of  social  error,  or  social  subversion  and  falseness  exists.  Man 
must  first  obtain  a  knowledge  of  his  nature,  of  the  law  whicli 
regulates  his  passions,  to  organize  a  true  society ;  and  this 
law  he  must  discover  by  his  own  observation  and  investiga- 
tion, precisely  as  he  has  to  discover  those  which  regulate  the 
solar  system,  to  obtain  a  knowledge  of  its  mechanism; — for 
the  human  mind  comprehends  none  of  nature's  laws  intuitively 
and  without  labor.  A  definite  and  unvarying  law  regulates 
the  action  of  the  passions,  if  it  be  not  discovered  and  applied 


THE    PASSIONS.  175 

Here  should  end  all  denunciations  of  the  passions, 
denunciations  which  from  this  time  forward  fall  back 
upon  their  authors.  Let  the  disgrace  be  attached  to 

to  them,  they  receive  a  false  development,  producing  as  many 
discords  as  they  are  capable  of  harmonies. 

In  the  organization  of  all  human  societies  up  to  the  present 
day,  man  has  been  ignorant  of  this  law,  and  his  societies  con- 
sequently have  been  built  upon  a  false  action  and  development 
of  the  passions,  wh'ch  is  the  true  cause  of  the  long  continuance 
of  evil  upon  the  earth.  But  if  man  discovers  the  law  which 
regulates  the  action  of  the  passion?,  so  as  to  guarantee  them 
a  harmonic  development,  he  may  organize  other  societies, 
which  will  cause  that  evil  to  cease,  and  open  him  a  career  of 
happiness.  Human  societies  must  continue  to  be  subversive 
and  discordant,  until  the  nature  of  the  passions  is  understood, 
and  their  regulating  law,  the  Passional  Serie,  is  discovered. 
The  passions  ar^  to  society,  what  wheels  and  springs  are  to 
a  machine ;  we  must  know  the  uses  and  applications  of  the 
first  to  construct  the  latter.  During  the  perioJ  man  is  ignorant 
of  his  own  nature  and  the  social  mechanism  adapted  to  it,  in- 
coherence and  suffering  are  his  lot;  science  during  this  time 
is  occupied  with  metaphysical  questions  respecting  the  con- 
cience,  generations  of  ideas,  etc.  As  soon  as  it  leaves  this 
narrow  sphere,  and  goes  into  a  thorough  study  of  the  passions 
and  their  tendencies,  it  is  easy  to  see  clearly  in  social  matters. 
This  study  has  been  prevented  by  the  inveterate  prejudice 
respecting  the  depravity  of  human  nature,  which  has  turned 
the  minds  of  men  from  this  primary  of  investigations  ;  believ- 
ing the  passions  depraved,  they  did  not  suspect  that  a  vast 
problem  of  social  harmony  was  connected  with  them :  they 
merely  thought  that  the  only  question  was  how  to  keep  them 
in  order  by  repression  and  constraints.  Fourier  followed  a  dif- 
ferent rout ;  setting  aside  all  philosophical  and  other  prejudices 
on  this  subject,  proceeding  on  the  principle  of  Absolute  doubt 
of  pre-existing  scientific  doctrines,  and  following  an  entirely 
opposite  direction ;  he  commenced  a  study  of  the  passions,  of 
their  harmonies  and  tendencies ;  instead  of  condemning  our 
nature,  he  interrogated  with  respect  her  laws;  and  the  result 
was  a  discovery  ot  the  great  regulating  principle  of  her  ac- 
tivity, the  passional  Serie,  and  of  a  social  order  based  upon 
it.  Tins  discovery  might  have  been  made  long  since,  and  the 
uojlect  of  his  research  is  one  of  the  greatest  reproaches  which 
can  be  add  tensed  to  human  science. 


176  THE    I'ASSIOITS. 

them  of  having  dragged  on  for  three  thousand  years 
in  this  spirit  of  simplism,  without  elevating  them- 
selves to  speculate  upon  the  alternative  of  the  two 

Possessing,  through  Fourier,  the  theory  of  the  passions  and 
that  of  a  true  social  organization,  we  should  proceed  to  test 
it  by  a  practical  trial ;  we  should  found  an  agv'icultural  As- 
sociation, and  see  v;ether  agricultural,  manufacturing  and 
household  occupations,  organized  in  Groups  and  Series,  could 
not  be  rendered  attractive.  If  the  experiment  succeeded,  the 
greatest  and  most  gigantic  of  social  problems  would  be  solved  ; 
indigence,  and  the  endless  fraud  and  duplicity  which  result 
from  it,  would  be  done  away  with,  and  the  axe  would  be  laid 
at  the  root  of  so  much  social  injustice,  of  slavery,  for  example, 
and  the  poverty  of  the  producing  classes. 

To  organize  Association,  one  condition  is  necessary;  various 
branches  of  industry  must  first  receive  a  considerable  degree 
of  development,  so  that  the  Groups  and  Series  may  be  applied 
to  the  occapations  of  agriculture  and  manufactures.  Association 
could  not  be  discovered  in  the  savage  state,  because  there  are 
no  branches  of  industry,  art  and  science  to  be  associated;  to 
subsist,  man  in  this  rude  society  merely  takes  what  nature  pro- 
duces spontaneously ;  for  which  purpose  there  is  no  need  of 
combination  and  union  of  strength  and  efforts.  It  therefore 
becomes  necessary  that  the  human  race  should  pass  about  a 
hundred  generations  in  creating,  by  instinct  and  from  necessi- 
ty, the  elements  of  industry  ;  when  this  is  accomplished,  As- 
sociation can  be  forthwith  organized;  but  during  the  time 
that  man,  directed  by  instinct  and  necessity,  is  developing- 
these  elements,  he  gropes  his  way,  so  to  say,  in  the  dark, 
and  is  afflicted  by  the  evils  which  result  from  a  false  and  in- 
coherent social  organization. 

If  this  disorder  in  industry  be  prolonged  after  the  various 
branches  of  agriculture  and  manufactures  have1  been  developed, 
the  intensity  of  social  misery  is  frightfully  increased.  Modern 
Europe  is  an  illustration  of  this  fact:  the  development  of  its 
industry  is  entirely  too  great  for  a  society  like  civilization, 
devoid  of  combination  and  Association.  It  leads  to  the  in- 
dustrial tyranny  and  poverty  of  the  mass,  glaringly  contrasted 
by  the  overgrown  wealth  and  luxury  of  the  few. 

Industry  was  carried  to  a  sufficient  degree  of  perfection  in 
the  ages  of  Pericles  to  admit  of  Association  ;  but  the  philo- 
sophers of  that  day  neglected  entirely  the  social  organization 
for  meta.physical  and  administrative  controversies.  The  social 


THE    PASSIONS.  177 

destinies  ; — one,  a  Social  subversion,  incompatible 
with  the  passions,  in  which  it  is  vainly  sought  to 
change  their  nature  to  suit  the  whims  of  sophists ; — 
— the  other,  the  Combined  order,  guaranteeing  a  full 
development  of  the  passions  and  of  Attraction. 

Let  us  view  the  abyss  of  folly  into  which  human 
reason  plunges  in  declaiming  against  the  three  Di- 
recting passions,  without  understanding  them.  The 
Creator  having  destined  us  to  the  combined  order, 
which  can  only  operate  by  the  passional  Series,  must 
of  course  have  given  us  impulses  suited  to  relations 
regulated  by  Series,  which  require  : 

1st.  Balance  of  discords  and  accords ;    .  .  .  Preponderance  of 

the  Cabalist. 

2d.  Frequent  variety  of  functions  and  tastes ;  Preponderance  of 

the  Alternating. 

3d.  Double  pleasure  and  enthusiasm ;   .  .  .  Preponderance  of 

the  Composite. 

So  long  as  the. human  race  continue  to  vegetate  in 
the  subversive  social  periods,  nothing  can  be  more 
fatal  than  these  three  passions ;  they  produce  dis- 
cords of  all  kinds.  Having  the  direction  of  the  nine 
others,  they  lead  to  those  propensities  of  intrigue,  of 
periodical  inconstancy,  and  of  blind  and  headstrong 

subversion  consequently  has  been  prolonged  over  twenty  can- 
turies  beyond  what  was  necessary  ;  and  at  the  present  day, 
science  and  politics  ore  still  occupied  with  the  same  futile 
controversies,  which  were  in  vogue  in  Greece  and  Rome ;  and 
this  too  with  amuchmore  vastly  developed  system  of  industry, 
full  of  excesses,  incoherence  and  conflicts.  It  is  the  most 
evident  of  facts  that  industry  requires  organization,  and  yet 
not  the  least  attention  is  paid  this  great  and  important  subject ! 

12 


178  THB   PASSIONS. 

infatuation,  which  are  as  precious  in  the  Series,  as 
they  are  pernicious  in  civilization. 

Hereupon  philosophy  and  reason  decide  upon  re- 
volting against  the  three  guides,  which  God  has 
given  us;  they  urge  a  repression  of  these  three  direct- 
ing passions,  and  as  a  consequence  of  the  nine  others, 
which  always  follow  their  impulses. 

This  false  view  of  the  passions  places  man  in  a 
state  of  open  rebellion  against  the  Divinity,  who  in- 
flicts no  direct  punishment,  but  remains  passive,  and 
leaves  him  to  the  indirect  punishment  which  results 
from  a  privation  of  the  delights  and  pleasures  he 
would  enjoy  in  the  Serial  order, — privation  which 
he  draws  upon  himself  by  refusing  to  study  the  pas- 
sions, and  the  system  adapted  to  them.  This  state 
of  misfortune  continues  until  it  pleases  human  reason 
to  examine  the  question,  whether  the  passions  and 
their  Creator  should  yield  to  the  thousand  systems  of 
philosophy,  or  whether  the  latter  should  search  out 
the  social  system  suited  to  the  demands  of  the  pas- 
sions, search  out  the  mechanism  which  it  has  pleased 
the  Creator  to  assign  them,  and  to  which  all  their 
impulses  are  adapted. 

Science  has  explained  us  nothing  relative  to  the 
system  of  these  impulses  developed  by  the  Series,  a 
table  of  which  we  add  without  entering,  however, 
into  details. 

1.  The  twelve  passions.         2.  Scale  of  characters. 
3.  Attractions.  4.  Repugnances. 

5.  Instincts.  6.  Tastes. 


THE    PASSIOJS.  179 

7.  Discords.  8.  Contrasts. 

9.  Sympathies.  10.  Antipathies. 

11.  Rivalries.  12.  Natural  vice?. 

Scale  of  inequalities. 

Individual  and  collective  selfishness. 

Human  science  with  its  three  heads,  Philosophy, 
Moralism  *  and  Legislation,  declares  war  .against  all 
these  springs  of  action  of  the  Soul,  which  it  wishes  to 
repress,  compress  and  suppress.  It  has  yet  to  learn 
that  they  are  the  machinery  or  component  parts  of 
a  brilliant  mechanism  of  industrial  Harmony,  and  of 
universal  Unity;  and  that  there  is  for  mankind  a 
happy  destiny,  which  can  only  be  attained  by  dis- 
covering the  action, — the  mode  of  development  as- 
signed by  the  Creator  to  these  twelve  elementary 
principles,  of  which  he  has  composed  a  whole,  called 
a  Soul.  So  long  as  we  are  ignorant  of  the  passional 
mechanism,  our  progress  in  material  improvements, 
in  manufactures,  steam  and  rail-roads,  do  not  lead  to 
social  happiness.  This  material  progress  should  be 
accompanied  by  a  corresponding  social  progress, 
otherwise  it  is  illusive:  the  continuance  of  suffering 
and  evil,  and  the  fruitlessness  of  efforts  made  to  cor- 
rect them,  should  excite  DOUBT  as  to  the  truth  and 
excellence  of  civilization ;  and  induce  the  scientific 

*  We  will  make  use  of  the  term  Moralism  to  distinguish  it 
from  morality ;  nothing  is  more  praiseworthy  than  the  pre- 
cepts which  teach  good  morals ;  but  moralism  or  a  spirit  of  con- 
troversy is  as  useless  a  science  as  either  of  the  others:  with 
its  condemnation  of  human  nature,  it  has  prevented  a  study  of 
the  passions  and  their  tendencies,  and  has  been  most  influen- 
tial in  prolonging  the  present  social  subversion. 

12* 


180  THE    PASSIONS- 

world  to  abandon  trodden  paths,  which  lead,  as  ex- 
perience proves,  to  no  results. 

The  objection  is  raised,  that  this  development  of 
souls  and  their  faculties,  is  not  practicable  in  ci- 
vilized relations,  in  isolated  households  and  in  in- 
coherent industry.  Civilization  consequently  should 
be  suspected  and  openly  denounced,  not  only  for  this 
reason,  but  because  it  is  a  society  which  favors  per- 
versity and  the  progress  of  falseness  and  indigence. 
Some  mechanism  entirely  opposed  to  it,  should  be 
sought ;  ours  is  based  upon  a  system  of  individual 
industry,  prosecuted  by  isolated  families,  which  per- 
verts and  misemploys  the  twelve  springs  of  action 
pointed  out  above:  we  should  have  tried  combined 
industry,  in  which  we  would  have  seen  these  twelve 
springs,  developed  in  reverse  action  of  their  present 
play,  producing  as  many  social  virtues,  as  they  pro- 
duce vices  in  the  civilized  order. 

Science,  however,  wishes  to  preserve  the  basis,  and 
change  the  springs  of  action,  preserve  the  present 
social  system  and  attack  the  passions  and  instincts  ; 
change  the  nature  of  man  ;  it  has  necessarily  failed 
in  every  respect;  we  cannot  change  human  nature, 
we  can  only  change  its  developments,  give  it  a  har- 
monic, instead  of  an  incoherent  development. 


- 

tt 


GROUPS    AND    SERIES.  181 


CHAPTER  THIRTEENTH, 

GROUPS    AND    SERIES. 

The  especial  object  of  the  foregoing  chapter  is 
to  show  how  perfectly  the  three  Directing  passions 
are  adapted  to  the  three  primary  conditions  in  the 
organization  of  Series:  Compact  scale,  Short  occupa- 
tions, Parcelled  exercise;  which  conditions,  as  was 
shown  in  Chapter  eleventh,  are  adapted  to  industry, 
health  and  riches. 

The  three  Directing  passions  or  CAUSES,  are  so  per- 
fectly identified  with  the  three  conditions  or  EFFECTS, 
that  we  can  establish  the  theory  of  Association  either 
on  the  effects  or  the  causes,  for  they  develop  each  other 
reciprocally:  the  action  of  these  six  moving  powers 
is  inseparable  in  a  passional  Serie ;  and  if  we  consider : 
The  three  passions  as  CAUSES, 
The  three  conditions  as  EFFECTS, 
we  can  test  in  two  ways  the  regularity  of  a  Serie ; 
for  the  analysis  of  its  mechanism  ought  to  present : 

The  three  CAUSES  in  action,  producing  the  three 
KFFECTS ; 

And  the  three  EFFECTS,  produced   by  the  impulse 
of  the  three  CAUSES. 


182  CROUPS    AND    SERIES. 

Here  is  a  double  method  of  verification ;  and  to  be 
certain  whether  an  industrial  Serie  is  regular  in 
theory  and  in  practice,  we  have  the  choice  of  these 
two  touch-stones :  if  in  a  Serie,  we  see  the  three 
causes  in  action,  we  may  be  certain  of  finding  the 
three  effects  in  it  also,  and  vice  versa. 

We  shall  often  have  occasion  to  observe  that  the 
Series  should  be  CONTRASTED,  CONNECTED  and  in 
RIVALSHIP  ;  we  will  explain  these  terms. 

The  Series  are  in  RIVALSHIP  through  the  action  of 
the  Emulative  or  Cabalist;  this  has  already  been 
sufficiently  explained ;  it  is  an  effect  of  the  first  Con- 
dition, Compact  scale. 

They  are  Contrasted  by  the  effect  of  Parcelled 
exercise.  A  Serie  mast  be  disposed  in  an  ascending 
and  descending  order,  that  is,  with  wings  and  a 
centre ;  this  method  brings  out  contrasts,  and  pro- 
duces enthusiasm,  for  each  of  .the  Groups  takes  a 
pride  in  the  special  occupation  which  it  has  chosen 
from  taste,  and  criticises  branches  of  industry  which 
other  Groups  of  the  Serie  prefer.  From  these  dis- 
cords or  emulative  rivalries  arise  sympathies  and 
alliances  between  Groups  exactly  contrasted,  and 
dissidences  betwen  Groups  of  contiguous  shades* 

A  Serie  requires  discords  as  well  as  accords  ;  it 
should  be  stimulated  by  opposing  pretentions,  from 
which  arise  rivalries  on  the  one  hand,  and  leagues 
between  Groups  occupied  with  distinct  varieties  on 
the  other;  without  contrasts  we  could  not  succeed 
in  creating  these  leagues,  and  the  enthusiasm  which 


GROUPS    AND    SERIES.  183 

result  from  them  ;  the  Serie  would  lack  ardour  in  in- 
dustry, and  its  products  would  be  poor  in  quality 
and  quantity. 

The  Series  are  Connected  or  linked  together  by 
the  effect  of  Short  occupations ;  this  necessary  con- 
dition can  only  take  place  by  the  Groups  changing 
frequently  their  occupations,  say  every  two  hours.  * 
A  man,  for  example,  mayNbe 

At  five  o'clock  in  the  morning  in  a  Group  of 
shepherds ; 

At  seven  o'clock  in  a  Group  of  gardners ; 

At  nine  o'clock  in  a  Group  of  fishermen. 
In  this  succession  the  three  Series  are  connected  by 
a  reciprocal  exchange  of  members.     It  is  not  neces- 
sary that  the  change  should  be  general ;  that  twenty 

*  It  may  be  objected  that  these  frequent  changes  will  cause 
a  great  loss  of  time  ;  they  will  require  from  five  to  fifteen  mi- 
nutes, less  than  a  quarter  of  an  hour  upon  an  average  for 
agricultural  changes,  and  half  that  time  in  munufacturing  or 
other  occupations,  in  the  interior  of  the  Palace  of  the  Phalanx, 
Those,  who  regret  this  loss  of  time,  might  wish  to  do  away 
with  sleep,  because  it  is  time  wasted.  The  attractive  labor 
of  Association  will  be  ardent;  as  much  will  be  done  in  an 
hour  as  is  now  done  by  hired  hands  in  three;  combined  in- 
dustry would  lead  to  excesses,  if  it  were  not  frequently  tem- 
pered by  relaxation  between  changes. 

If  any  Group  or  Serie  wish  to  continue  its  occupations 
longer  than  the  time  mentioned,  it  will  be  perfectly  free  to 
do  so.  There  is  nothing  arbitrary  in  the  serial  mechanism  ; 
it  must  adapt  itself  to  the  demands  of  nature  and  the  passions. 
If  individuals,  engaged  in  occupations  appartaining  to  the  fine 
arts  or  sciences,  find  a  prolonged  application  necessary,  the 
fullest  liberty  will  of  course  be  left  them.  We  speak  of 
the  great  mass  of  pursuits,  of  the  seven-eights  of  industrial 
labor.  In  Association  with  a  complete  organization  of  the 
Series,  short  occupations  will  be  found  a  universal  desire. 


184  GROUPS    AND    SERIES. 

men  occupied  with  flocks  from  five  to  half  after  six, 
should  all  go  to  the  gardens  from  seven  to  half  after 
eight;  it  is  only  necessary  that  each  Serie  should 
furnish  the  others  with  some  members,  taken  from  some 
of  its  Groups,  in  order  to  establish  ties  between  them 
by  these  reciprocal  exchanges.  If  each  individual 
did  not  take  a  part  in  twenty  or  thirty  Series,  in  each 
of  which  he  receives  a  share  of  the  profits  of  those  Se- 
ries, there  would  be  great  difficulty  at  a  general  di- 
vision of  profits  at  the  end  of  the  year.  Self-interest 
will  induce  men  to  desire  justice,  and  an  equitable 
division  throughout.  There  are  other  powerful  in- 
ducements, which  will  guarantee  concord  in  the  dis- 
tribution of  profits;  these  will  be  explained,  when  we 
treat  of  this  important  branch  of  Association. 

The  science  of  Association  consists  solely  in  know- 
ing how  ioform  and  develop  in  full  accord  a  mass  or 
Phalanx  of  Passional  Series,  perfectly  free,  impelled 
by  Attraction  alone,  and  applied  to  the  seven  follow- 
ing industrial  occupations,  and  to  pleasures. 

1.  Domestic  occupations. 

2.  Agricultural  occupations. 

3.  Manufacturing  occupations. 

4.  Commercial  occupations. 

5.  Education. 

6.  Study  and  application  of  the  sciences. 

7.  Study  and  application  of  the  fine  arts. 
These  branches  of  human  activity  should  be  exer- 
cised combinedly  and  cumulatively  in  the  largest 
assemblages  or  associations  possible;  about  eighteen 


GROUPS    AND    SERIES.  185 

hundred  persons  are  the  proper  number;  above  two 
thousand  there  would  be  confusion.  These  occupa- 
tions taken  collectively,  constitute  the  broad  field  of 
human  activity,  embraced  under  the  general  term 
of  INDUSTRY. 

The  study  of  Association  may  be  recuced  to  two 
points : 

To  the  internal  distribution  of  a  Serie  and  its  Groups 
and  Sub-groups,  of  which  we  have  treated. 

To  their  external  distribution,  or  connexion  and 
spontaneous  co-operation  with  the  other  Series 
of  the  Phalanx  and  neighbouring  Phalanxes. 

Nature  employs  Series  of  Groups  in  the  whole  dis- 
tribution of  the  Universe;  the  three  kingdoms, — the 
animal,  vegetable  and  mineral,  present  us  only  Series 
of  Groups.  The  Planets  are  a  Serie  of  a  more  per- 
fect order  than- that  of  the  kingdoms  ;  the  kingdoms 
are  distributed  in  simple  or  free  Series  ;  (free  signi- 
fies that  the  number  of  their  Groups  is  unlimited ;) 
the  Planets  are  disposed  in  a  compound  or  measured 
Serie ;  this  order  more  perfect  than  the  simple,  is 
unknown  to  astronomers ;  hence  it  arises  that  they 
cannot  explain  the  causes  of  the  distribution  of 
planets;  explain  why  God  has  given  more  satellites 
to  some,  less  to  others ,  why  a  ring  to  one  planet, 
none  to  another,  etc. 

A  Passional  Serie,  we  will  repeat  to  recall  the 
subject  once  more  to  the  mind  of  the  reader,  is  a 
league  of  divers  Groups,  distributed  in  an  ascending 
and  descending  order,  united  passionally  from  an 


186  GROUPS   AND    SERIES. 

identity  of  taste  for  some  occupation  either  of  agri 
culture,  manufactures,  art  or  science,  applying  a 
Group  to  each  detail  of  the  pursuit,  which  occupies 
the  Serie.  If  it  cultivate  a  fruit,  the  Serie  must  form 
as  many  Groups,  as  there  are  varieties  of  the  fruit, 
which  can  be  grown  on  the  soil  of  the  Phalanx  to 
which  the  Serie  belongs. 

These  distributions  must  be  regulated  by  Attrac- 
tion alone;  each  Group  should  be  composed  of 
members  only  who  are  devoted  from  passion  or 
taste  to  certain  branches  of  industry,  without  resort- 
ing to  means  used  in  the  civilized  order,  like  want, 
moral  duty,  reason  and  constraint. 

If  a  Serie  were  not  methodically  organized,  and  if 
its  members  were  not  animated  by  a  strong  passion 
for  its  branch  of  industry,  it  would  not  fulfill  a  pri- 
mary condition, — a  just  and  satisfactory  division  of 
profits,  nor  an  important  law  of  equilibrium, — the 
influence  of  the  extreme  Groups,  equal  tp  the  influence 
of  the  centre  Group  ;  it  could  not  with  such  defects 
be  put  in  action  in  a  Phalanx  of  Series. 

A  Serie  operating  isolatedly,  would  be  valueless, 
however  regular  it  might  be ;  it  must  be  connected 
with  other  Series  to  develop  its  qualities;  we  could 
organize  in  a  city  a  Serie  occupied  with  some  agree- 
able branch  of  industry,  such  as  the  cultivation  of 
flowers,  but  it  would  be  useless;  it  is  necessary  to 
have  Series  regularly  organized  and  connected  to 
the  number  of  forty-five  or  fifty  at  least,  to  attempt 
a  pi'actical  trial  of  Association,  and  Attractive  in- 


8R0UPS    AND   SERIES.  187 

dustry.  Three  hundred  and  fifty  to  four  hundred 
persons,  men,  women  and  children  are  necessary  to 
form  this  number  of  Series. 

We  observed,  that  the  mechanism  of  the  Passional 
Series  requires  discords,  or  emulative  rivalries,  as 
well  as  accords;  it  makes  use  of  all  disparities  of 
characters,  tastes,  instincts,  fortune,  pretentions  and 
knowledge*  The  aliment  of  a  Serie  are  these  con- 
trasted inequalities;  it  requires  as  many  contraries 
or  antipathies,  as  it  does  concerts  or  sympathies.  This 
law  applies  to  music,  in  which  an  accord  is  only 
formed  by  excluding  as  many  notes  as  are  admitted. 

Discords  are  so  necessary  in  a  Passional  Serie, 
that  each  one  of  the  Groups  should  be  in  antipathy 
with  the  two  contiguous  Groups,  and  in  graduated 
antipathy  with  the  two  sub-contiguous  ones ;  the 
same  as  a  note  in  music  is  essentially  discordant  with 
its  two  contiguous  notes :  D  is  in  discord  with  C 
sharp  and  E  flat. 

Besides  a  geometrical  division  of  profits,  an  as- 
semblage of  Passional  Series  produces  other  magni- 
ficent results  in  social  harmony,  such  as  EMULATION, 
JUSTICE,  TRUTH,  DIRECT  ACCORD,  INVERSE  ACCORD, 

UlflTY. 

Emulation;   source  of  general  perfection  in  in- 
dustry. 

Justice;  means  of  satisfy  ing  every  individual,  as  to 
promotion,  reward  of  merit  and  encouragement 

Truth  practised  from  passion,   and  rendered  ne 
cessary  by  the  impossibility  of  deceit. 


188  GROUPS    AND    SERIES. 

Direct  accord,  arising  from  leagues  of  identities 
and  contrasts  of  tastes. 

Indirect  accord,  absorption  of  individual  anti- 
pathies in  collective  affinities. 

Unity  of  action,  adherance  of  all  the  Series  to  re- 
gulations which  lead  to  Unity. 

The  civilized  mechanism  possesses  all  the  opposite 
qualities,  languor,  injustice,  fraud,  duplicity. 

The  mechanism  of  the  Passional  Series  is  not 
based  upon  indirect  inducements  and  illusions ;  it 
only  makes  use  of  levers  which  are  fully  attractive ; 
uniting  ordinarily  a  fourfold  charm,  two  of  the 
senses  and  two  of  the  affectives  or  distributives,  or 
at  least  one  of  the  senses  and  one  of  the  affectives 
or  distributives  ;  it  may  employ,  however,  two  of  the 
latter  to  one  of  the  former  in  occupations  incom- 
patible with  the  pleasure  of  the  senses. 

In  short,  the  action  of  the  Series  may  be  reduced 
to  a  precise  and  fixed  law,  which  is  to  develop  the 
three  Directing  passions  by  employing  the  three  con- 
ditions, Compactness,  Short  occupations,  Parcelled 
exercise;  and  these  conditions  are  nothing  else  than 
the  natural  mode  of  action  of  the  passions  themselves, 
— than  their  natural  effects. 

The  whole  problem  of  Association  is  to  give  free 
course  and  development  to  the  twelve  radical  pas- 
sions; otherwise  there  will  be  oppression,  not  har- 
mony. These  twelve  passions  tend  to  form  Series 
of  Groups,  in  which  two  classes  of  the  passions,  the 


GROUPS    AND    SERIES.  189 

sensitives  and  affective:  are  directed  by  the  class  of 
distributives.  The  question  to  be  examined  is  whether, 
in  forming  Series  of  Groups  in  which  the  three  dis- 
tributive or  directing  passions  will  have  free  course, 
we  shall  succeed  in  giving  an  equally  free  action  to 
the  nine  other  passions,  without  any  conflict.  In 
this  case  all  the  twelve  being  developed  and  satisfied 
in  each  individual,  each  one  attains  to  happiness, 
which  consists  in  a  full  development  of  the  passions. 
This  doctrine  opposed  to  all  repressive  and  civilized 
theories,  is  the  only  one  conformable  to  the  disire  of 
nature,  and  the  presdmable  views  of  the  Creator, 
who,  let  us  repeat,  would  be  an  unskillful  mechani- 
cian, had  he  created  our  passions  so  that  the  stronger 
should  smother  the  weaker^  as  they  do  in  the  civilized 
system. 

THERE  is  NOTHING  ARBITRARY  IN  THE  SYSTEM  WE 
PROPOSE,  we  resort  to  no  laws  or  regulations  of  human 
invention;  we  make  use  of  three  of  the  twelve  pas- 
sions to  direct  the  other  nine  with  the  freest  and  most 
economical  of  systems,  that  of  the  Serie  of  Groups, 
which  system  is  a  universal  desire  of  the  human 
heart,  as  well  as  the  distribution  followed  in  the 
whole  order  of  known  Nature. 


190  OF    THE  OPTION   OF    THE    DIVINITY 


CHAPTER  FOURTEENTH. 

OF    THE    OPTION    OF    THE    DIVINITY    BETWEEN    ISOLATED 
AND    COMBINED    INDUSTRY. 

The  world  is  occupied  with  political  and  scientific  abstrac- 
tions, which  are  severed  from  Industry  and  the  practical  in- 
terests of  the  great  mass ;  let  us  for  once,  however,  apply  these 
abstractions  in  the  discussion  of  the  above  question,  and  ab- 
stract ourselves  from  civilized  views  and  prejudices  to  appre- 
ciate coolly  the  effects  of  an  industrial  order,  which,  organized 
in  opposition  to  our  present  isolated  farming  system — sub- 
stituting Series  of  Groups  in  the  place  of  individual  industry 
— would  necessarily  produce  results  directly  opposed  to  those 
of  civilized  agriculture. 

We  will  follow  irl  this  examination  three  principles,  which 
philosophers  themselves  have  laid  down,  but  which  they  have 
not  applied  in  the  discussion  of  social  questions. 

1st.     Not  to  believe   nature   circumscribed  or  limited  to 
means  known. 

2d.     To  take  care  that  errors,  which  have  become  preju- 
dices, are  not  taken  for  principles. 

3d.     To  forget  what  we  have  learned  in  social  matters,  and 
go  back  to  the  origin  of  ideas. 


BETWEEN  ISOLATED  AND  COMBINED  INDUSTRY.       191 

Let  us  see  where  these  three  principles  will  lead  us  in  the 
study  of  the  Social  and  Passional  destiny  of  man. 

1st.  Not  to  believe  nature  circumscribed  to  means  known ; 
we  may  presume  consequently  that  she  has  in  reserve  some 
other  mode  of  exercising  industry,  than  that  of  isolated  fami- 
lies, which,  so  far  from  being  a  mechanism  of  social  art,  is  a 
system  which  stamps  with  ignorance  and  apathy  both  ancient 
and  modern  politics,  as  well  as  the  positive  sciences,  which 
ought  to  have  repaired  so  gross  a  neglect. 

Rude  nature  assembles  individuals  by  couples  in  savage 
huts;  this  is  an  assemblage  of  reproduction,  not  of  industry. 
There  remained  consequently  a  system  of  Industrial  assem- 
blage to  be  discovered. 

Philosophers  have  overlooked  this  most  important  of  studies, 
declaring  that  the  savage  state,  the  system  of  couples  or  iso- 
lated households,  is  the  industrial  destiny  of  man.  This  as- 
semblage, however,  is  but  the  absence  of  all  combination,  as 
it  is  the  smallest  of  domestic  Associations. 

But  science  never  deigned  to  speculate  on  domestic  com- 
binations. Ancient  philosophers  hindred  in  this  study  by  the 
institution  of  slavery,  and  moreover  carried  away  by  ambition 
and  a  desire  to  intermeddle  in  administrative  questions,  con- 
sidered only  the  Government  in  Politics,  without  thinking  of 
directing  to  other  branches  their  research  and  views  of  re- 
form. They  If-ft  domestic  labor  in  the  rude  stale  exercised 
by  couples,  precisely  where  they  had  found  it. 

This  negligence  is  evident;  if  Nature,  as  they  assert,  is  not 
circumscribed  to  means  known,  why  suppose  her  in  a  Social 
point  of  view  circumscribed  to  one  single  industrial  method, 
to  the  isolated  household  without  Association  with  neighbour- 
ing families  ?  la  not  this  the  vice  which  they  themselves  de- 
nounce, in  saying:  take  care  that  trrors  become  prejudices, 
are  not  taken  for  principles. 


192  OF  THE  OPTION  OP  THE  DIVINITY 

In  violation  of  this  precept,  they  have  established  as  a  prin- 
ciple, their  ancient  prejudice  on  incoherent  labor  and  isolated 
households,  which  system  they  declare  to  be  our  exclusive, 
irrevocable  Destiny,  the  ultimate  term  of  human  perfection. 

At  length  their  error  is  proved  by  the  theory  of  the  Pas- 
sional Series  or  theory  of  domestic  Association.  To  fami- 
liarize ourselves  with  this  discovery  and  its  effects,  we  must, 
according  to  the  precept  of  philosophers,  forget  what  we  have 
learned  of  present  social  doctrines;  abstract  ourselvis  from 
their  erroneous  principles,  and  go  back  to  the  origin  of  ideas. 

Where  is  the  origin  of  social  ideas  1  Is  it  in  the  reveries  of 
Socrates  and  Plato,  that  we  must  seek  for  their  source  ?  Most 
certainly  not ;  we  must  ascend  to  divine  conceptions,  far  an- 
terior to  those  of  human  reason.  God  before  creating  worlds, 
could  not  fail  to  regulate  their  social  Destiny,  and  fix  upon  the 
most  suitable  mode  for  their  industrial  and  domestic  relations. 
This  is  a  truth  which  must  be  repeated,  whenever  the  ques- 
tion comes  up  of  going  to  the  origin  of  ideas.  Let  us  ascend 
consequently  to  the  primitive  social  idea,  to  the  intention  of 
the  Divinity  respecting  the  Industrial  order  of  our  societies. 

The  Creator  could  only  choose  for  the  mode  of  exercise  of 
human  industry,  between  Groups  and  individuals,  between 
combined  social  action  and  incoherent  isolated  action.  This 
is  a  principle  which  must  be  constantly  borne  in  mind. 

As  a  wise  mechanician,  he  could  not  have  speculated  on  the 
employment  of  isolated  couples,  acting  without  unity,  accord- 
ing to  the  civilized  method ;  for  individual  action  contains 
within  itself  seven  principles  of  disorganization,  each  of  which 
would  produce  numerous  conflicts  and  disorders.  With  a  list 
of  these  vices  before  us,  let  us  judge  whether  the  Creator 
could  have  hesitated  for  a  moment  to  proscribe  isolated  labor, 
which  is  the  source  of  them  all. 


BETWEEN  ISOLATED  AND  COMBINED  INDUSTRY.       193 

DEFECTS  OF  INDIVIDUAL  ACTION  IN  INDUSTRY. 

Transition :     Hired  labor,  indirect  servitude. 

1st.  Death  of  the  operative  or  workman. 

2d.  Personal  inconstancy. 

3d.  Contrast  of  character  between  father  anci  son. 

4th,  Absence  of  system  and  economy. 

5th,  Ff.aud,  larceny  and  general  distrust. 

6th.  Stoppage  of  work  from  want  of  means, 

7th.  Conflict  of  rival  enterprizes. 

CONFLICT  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL  WITH  THE  COL- 

PivotS.  LECTIVE    INTEREST. 

»  !# 

ABSENCE  OF  UNITY  IN  PLANS  AND  EXECUTION. 

God  would  have  adopted  all  these  vices  as  the  basis  of  the 
social  system,  if  he  had  chosen  the  civilized  method  or  inco- 
herent labor ;  can  we  suspect  the  Creator  of  such  a  want  of 
foresight!  Let  us  devote  a  few  lines  to  the  examination  of 
each  of  these  characters,  with  a  parallel  of  the  effects,  which 
Association  would  produce ; — marked  thus  *  *. 

1st.  Death  ;  it  puts  a  stop  to  the  undertakings  of  a  man  under 
circumstances,  when  no  one  around  him  has  the  intention  of 
continuing  them,  or  the  necessary  capital  and  talent. 

*  *  The  Passional  Series  never  die  ;  they  replace  yearly  by 
new  candidates  those  members,  whom  death  may  carry  off. 

2d.  Inconstancy;  it  causes  individuals  to  change  or  ne- 
glect their  measures,  and  prevents  work  attaining  perfection 
and  stability. 

*  *  The  Series  are  not  subject  to  inconstancy  ;  this  defect 
can  cause  neither  change  nor  vacillation  in  their  undertakings. 
If  it  draw  away  annually  a  few  members,  new  candidates  are 
admitted,  who  re-establish  the  equilibrium,  which  is  further 
maintained  by  a  call  upon  ancient  members,  who  are  an  auxi- 
liary body  in  case  of  urgency. 

3d.     Contrast  of  character  between  father  and  son,  be- 

13 


194  OF  THE  OPTION  OF  THE  DIVIiriTT 

tween  the  donor  and  inheritor ;  contrast  which  causes  the  one 
to  abandon  or  change  works  commenced  by  the  other. 

*  *  The  Series  are  exempt  from  this  defect,  because  they 
are  assemblages  of  persons  united  by  affinity  of  tastes,  and  not 
by  the  tie  of  consanguinity,  which  is  a  sure  cause  of  dis- 
parity in  inclinations. 

4th.  Absence  of  system  and  economy  ;  advantages  incom- 
patible with  individual  action  in  industry ;  large  associations 
are  necessary  to  systematize  all  branches  of  work,  whether 
household  or  agricultural. 

*  *    The  Series  with   the  double  advantage  of  large  as- 
semblages and  combined  action,  can  introduce  everywhere  the 
most  perfect  system  of  economy.    We  have  proved  this  in 
Chapters  111,  IV,  V,  VI. 

5th.  Fraud  and  larceny;  inherent  defects  in  all  enter- 
prizes  where  the  workmen  are  not  interested,  and  do  not 
participate  in  the  profits  according  to  labor,  capital  and  skill. 

*  *  The  Serial  mechanism,  fully  guarded  against  fraud  and 
larceny,    can  dispense  with  the  ruinous   precautions,  which 
those  risks  now  render  necessary. 

6th.  Stoppage  of  Labor  for  want  of  employment,  machines, 
implements,  workshops,  capital  and  credit, — wants  which  are 
constantly  paralizing  civilized  industry. 

*  *  These  obstacles  are  unknown  in  Association,  constantly 
and  abundantly  provided  with  everything  necessary  to  insure 
an  integral  prosecution  of,  and  perfection  in  all  branches  of 
industry. 

7th.  Conflict  of  rival  enlerprizes ;  civilized  rivalries  are 
hostile  and  not  emulative  ;  one  manufacturer  strives  to  break 
down  another,  who  is  a  competitor;  the  industrial  classes  are 
hosts  of  respective  enemies. 

*  *  There  is  nothing  of  this  anti-social  spirit  in  the  Series, 
each  of  which  is  interested  in  the  success  of  the  others ;  the 
mass  of  them  moreover  only  undertake  those  branches  of  in- 
dustry for  which  there  is  a  guarantee  of  sale. 


BETWEEN  ISOLATED  AlfD  COMBINED  INDUSTRY.    195 

CONFLICT  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL  WITH  THE  COLLECTIVE 
INTEREST,  which  we  see  in  the  destruction  of  game,  ruin  of 
fisheries,  deterioration  of  climate. 

*  Contrary  effect  in  the  Series ;  general  concert  for  main- 
taining all  those  sources  of  riches,  and  for  an  integral  restora- 
tion of  the  climate  by  a  general  cultivation  of  the  earth's  sur- 
face. 

ABSENCE  OF  UNITY  IN  PLANS  AND  EXECUTION  ;  the  ci- 
vilized order  is  a  monstrous  assemblage  of  all  duplicities. 

*  The  mechanism  of  the  Series  is  a  vast  combination  of 
all  unities,  and  of  concert  of  action. 

1  RANSITIOX,  Hired  labor  or  indirect  servitude,  a  system 
productive  of  vexation,  disappointment  and  persecution  for  the 
laboring  mass.  * 

*  In  Association  every  individual  has  an  account  open  on  the 
books  of  the  Phalanx.  No  person  is  employed  or  engaged  to  work 
by  any  other  person,  and  as  a  consequence  the  civilized  system  of 
direct  hire  and  pay  between  individuals,  which  is  a  source  of  humi- 
liation, will  cease  to  exist.  The  Phalanx  is  the  universal  employer, 
a  system  which  will  elevate  instead  of  lower  the  employed 

If  a  person  purchase  a  suit  of  clothes,  the  Phalanx  debits  the  in- 
dividual making  the  purchase,  and  credits  the  Serie,  which  fur- 
nishes it.  At  the  end  of  the  year  the  product  of  all  the  dresses  sold 
in  the  Phalanx  or  to  other  Association!,  is  paid  over  to  the  Serie', 
the  members  of  which  divide  it  among  themselves  according  as  they 
have  contributed  in  labor  and  skill.  The  laws  regulating  this  di 
vision  of  profits  will  be  given  in  full  detail  hereafter. 

The  individual  purchasing  the  dres>,  is  charged  on  the  oftier 
hand  for  its  value.  At  the  end  of  the  year  his  account  is  closed; 
his  debits  are  things  purchased,  hire  of  rooms,  living,  subscription 
to  baths,  to  the  library,  etc.  His  credits  are  what  he  has  earned  dur- 
ing the  course  of  the  year  in  the  various  Series  to  which  he  belongs, 
and  the  interest,  which  he  receives  as  stockholder.  This  system,  it 
is  evident,  avoids  all  private  bargainings,  all  misunderstandings  and 
quarrels  about  prices 

A  civilizee  will  probably  remark,  that  individuals  would  run  in 
debt  as  much  as  possible  to  the  Phalanx,  and  then  avoid  work. 
Such  of  course  would  be  the  policy  at  present;  but  the  charms  and 
enticements  connected  witli  industry  in  the  combined  order,  will 
guarantee  its  free  and  spontaneous  exercise ; — and  as  in  Association, 
with  its  wisely  planned  economies,  every  individual  can  produce  a 
vast  deal  more  than  is  necessary  to  his  subsistence,  the  Phalanx 

13* 


196  OP  THE  OPTION   OF  THE    DIVINITY 

*  *  Striking  contrast  with  the  condition  of  the  producer  in 
the  Combined  order,  who  enjoys  the  charm  of  Serial  industry 
and  his  natural  rights. 

After  examining  this  table  we  must  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  God,  having  had  the  option  between  these  two  mecha- 
nisms, between  a  mass  of  absurdities  and  a  world  of  perfec- 
tion, could  not  have  deliberated  for  a  moment  which  to 
choose. 

The  least  hesitation  would  have  been  contradictory  with 
one  of  his  great  laws,  Economy  of  means ;  ho  would  have 
violated  it  in  every  v/ay,  had  he  chosen  the  civilized  or  in- 
coherent order  instead  of  Association,  which  can  alone  pro- 
duce economies  or  savings  of  all  kinds ;  saving  of  constraint, 
of  health,  of  time,  of  monotony  and  disgust,  of  machines,  of 
hand-work,  of  anxiety,  of  frauds,  of  precautions,  of  losses,  of 
fruitless  negotiations  and  of  duplicity  of  action. 

Such  is  in  short  the  knowledge,  which  we  would  have  ac- 
quired in  social  matters,  had  we  tried  to  forget  for  a  moment 
our  scientific  prejudices,  set  them  aside,  and  gone  back  to  the 
origin  of  ideas. 

This  origin  of  social  ideas  can  only  be  in  God,  who,  long  be- 
fore the  creation  of  man^  must  have  weighed  the  value  of 
these  two  social  mechanisms,  the  incoherent  and  the  corn- 
will  be  certain  of  realizing  the  minimum,  that  is,  ample  sufficiency 
of  what  is  necessary  to  comfort  and  pleasure,  which  it  advances  to 
all  its  members. 

Hired  labor  between  man  and  man,  as  it  exists  in  civilization,  is 
degrading,  besides  being  a  source  of  petty  tyranny,  persecution, 
quarrels  and  litigations  without  end.  In  the  combined  order  the 
individual  has  no  superior  but  the  Phalanx;  if  he  performs  duties  for 
so  high  an  employer,  there  is  something  ennobling  in  it ;  if  he  obeys 
the  calm  decision  of  the  mass,  there  is  something  honorable  in  it; 
but  the  laborer  in  civilization  must  servilely  obey  the  whims  and 
caprices  of  a  master  or  a  capitalist,  which  is  both  painful  and  de- 
grading. We  boast  of  our  social  perfection,  of  our  progress,  and 
yet  in  our  societies  the  majority  have  to  sacrifice  the  dignity  of  hu- 
man nature  to  money,  aud  beg  it  in  addition  as  a  privilege.  Pe- 
cuniary dependency  with  its  servile  degradation,  is  the  ruling  cha- 
racter of  the  present  epoch. 


BETWEEN  ISOLATED  AND  COMBINED  INDUSTRY.      197 

bined,  and  who,  having  necessarily  chosen  the  combined, 
must  have  given  us  passions  adapted  to  this  system.  In  proof 
of  it,  we  see  that  they  are  incompatible  with  the  civilized 
order. 

We  consequently  should  not  be  surprised,  if  our  passions, — 
cupidity,  inconstancy,  etc.,  hurtful  in  the  present  state,  find  a 
useful  employ  in  the  combined  order,  nor  if  its  system  of  edu- 
cation be  based  upon  the  full  development  of  the  passions, 
which  are  pernicious  in  civilization,  because  they  were  created 
tor  the  service  of  Association. 

All  philosophers  declare  that  man  was  made  for  society ; 
starting1  from  this  principle,  should  man  tend  to  the  smallest 
or  the  largest  society  possible  ?  Beyond  all  doubt  it  is  in  the 
largest  that  he  will  find  all  the  advantages  of  system  and  eco- 
nomy ;  and  inasmuch  as  we  have  only  arrived  at  tho  infinitely 
small,  at  the  isolated  couple,  is  any  other  proof  necessary  to 
show,  that  civilization  is  the  very  opposite  of  human  destiny 
as  well  as  of  truth  1 

What  signifies  the  perpetual  objection  of  the  world :  "  you 
wish  to  develop  the  passions,  the  corroding  passions,  as  if 
they  were  not  bad  enough  as  they  are,  you  wish,  etc."  We 
wish  to  proove  that  all  the  passions  are  good  as  God  created 
them ;  good  and  useful  provided  they  be  employed  in  an  order 
of  things,  which  is  the  opposite  of  our  system  of  piecemeal  or 
civilized  labor,  and  of  the  nine  scourges,  which  it  constantly 
engenders. 

If  critics  find  no  reply,  they  fall  into  a  vague  doubt  and 
denial ;  they  declare  that  things  cannot  be  changed,  that  the 
cause  of  the  evil  which  oppresses  mankind  is  impenetrable,  that 
it  is  impossible  to  organize  a  first  Phalanx,  which  would  test 
the  question  of  Association  and  Attractive  industry;  that 
neither  governments  nor  individuals  will  incur  the  expense  of 
making  a  practical  trial,  however  easily  such  a  trial  could 
be  made,  and  however  small  a  sum  comparatively  it  would  re- 
quire. Civilized  politicians  always  find  it  easy  to  expend  a 


198  OF  THE  OPTION  OF  THE  DIVINITY 

hundred  millions  to  kill  a  hundred  thousand  men  and  burn 
some  hundreds  of  cities  and  villages;  but  if  any  small  sum  is 
wanted  for  a  useful  undertaking,  it  is  declared  impossible,  and 
the  importance  of  economy  is  urged. 

If  Association  be  attacked  by  the  scientific  leaders  of  the 
day,  declaring  it  impossible  to  sound  the  deep  depths  of  nature, 
to  pierce  the  mystery  of  social  evil :  we  will  observe  to  them 
that  they  condemn  themselves  beforehand  by  their  own  pre- 
cepts. If  they  believe  that  Nature  is  not  circumscribed  to 
means  known,  ought  they  to  be  surprised,  if  she  has  in  re- 
serve means  for  organizing  industrial  Association,  unknown 
to  the  scientific,  who  have  not  wished  to  sound  her  deep 
depths  ? 

But  these  means,  they  answer,  are  incredible  from  their  ex- 
traordinary character;  they  subvert  all  received  doctrines! 
Most  certainly  not,  for  they  lay  down  as  the  basis  of  social  re- 
lations the  general  practice  of  justice,  truth  and  unity,  which 
are  certainly  three  received  and  accredited  principles,  al- 
though trampled  under  foot  by  those  who  advocate  them.  It 
is  consequently  civilization  which  is  subversive  of  received 
doctrines. 

But  what  is  meant  by  these  expressions  ;  established  doc- 
trines, accredited  principles  ?  Are  we  to  be  satisfied  with 
words,  or  shall  we  seek  for  practical  results  ?  Do  we  wish  the 
good  in  perspective,  and  evil  in  reality  1  Do  we  wish  extreme 
disunion  and  excess  of  falseness  and  poverty  in  society  ?  If 
so,  we  could  choose  no  better  system  than  that  of  incoherent 
labor,  exercised  by  isolated  families,  which  reduces  the  do- 
mestic organization  to  the  lowest  degree  of  combination,  and 
communicates  to  it  the  greatest  collective  and  individual 
falseness, 

Our  system  of  isolated  households  reduces  consequently  the 
means  of  economy,  system,  riches  and  truth  to  the  lowest 
degree.  Families  forming  successively  as  many  households 
as  there  are  children,  are  in  every  way  the  source  of  discord 


BETWEEN  ISOLATED  AND  COMBINED  INDUSTRY.      199 

the  very  opposite  of  Association  and  of  riches;  hence  to  choose 
the  family  system  with  the  isolated  househould  as  Pivot  of  the 
social  mechanism,  is  to  labor  directly  to  produce  disunion  and 
poverty. 

We  have  proved  that  we  cannot  suppose  the  Creator  author 
of  this  system.  If,  as  it  cannot  be  doubted,  he  has  chosen  the 
opposite  method,  Association,  it  follows: 

1st.  That  the  passions,  which  are  his  work,  must  all  be 
adapted  to  the  requirements  of  Association,  and  all  incom- 
patible with  the  incoherent  or  civilized  order. 

2d.  That  the  same  passions  must  produce  in  the  incoherent 
or  civilized  order,  all  effects  opposed  to  the  will  of  God,  to 
justice,  truth,  economy  and  unity. 

3d.  That  we  may  expect  from  the  passions  developed  in 
Association,  as  many  benefits  as  they  engender  scourges  in 
civilization. 

Such  are  the  conclusions  to  which  men  would  have  arrived 
long  since,  had  they  been  willing,  according  to  the  advice  of 
philosophers,  to  go  back  to  the  origin  oftocial  ideas,  go  to 
their  true  source,  to  the  option  of  God  between  these  two  so- 
cial mechanisms. 


The  principles  we  advocate  are  a  systematic  deviation  from 
the  past  history  of  mankind,  and  a  contradiction  of  the  great 
leading  errors  upon  which  that  history  has  been  based.  In 
making  so  broad  an  assertion,  we  do  it  with  a  knowledge  of 
the  numerous  philosophical  theories  which  have  appeared  in 
support  of  the  principle  of  continued  progress  in  history  ; 
theories  which  endeavor  to  prove  that  the  troubled  career  of 
mankind  has  been  one  of  necessity,  and  even  of  wisdom;  that 
all  the  great  events  which  have  taken  place  were  subservient 
to  this  law  of  progress,  that  they  could  not  have  happened  at 


200  OF  THE  OPTION   OF  THE    DIVINITY' 

any  other  epoch,  nor  in  any  other  manner,  that  the  sufferings 
and  wars  of  the  human  race,  the  rises  and  downfalls  of  na- 
tions, have  contributed  to  this  progressive  movement,  and  that 
they  are  links  in  a  Serie  through  which  man  must  pass  to  at- 
tain to  his  Destiny. 

The  theory  of  continued  progress  is  becoming  very  popular 
with  writers  both  in  France  and  Germany ;  how  far  it  has 
spread  in  England  we  cannot  say ;  in  this  country  we  have  other 
absorbing  subjects  of  attention.  Its  supporters  unanimously 
assert  that  progress  is  our  law,  and  that  we  are  moving  onward, 
— but  they  give  us  no  distinct  idea  where  we  are  tending  to, 
nor  of  the  state  we  are  ultimately  to  attain.  They  sanction 
the  history  of  the  past,  the  principles  of  which  they  wish 
should  be  the  basis  of  all  future  improvement ;  they  admire 
the  dreary  career  of  mankind  as  a  magnificent  achievement, 
and  endeavor  to  read  in  their  annals  of  blood  a  wisdom,  which 
they  proclaim  to  be  of  Providence,  but  which  is  an  illusive 
chimera  of  their  own  erroneous  speculations.  We  cannot  con- 
sider the  history  of  the  past  a  regular  and  necessary  progress, 
marked  out  by  Providence,  without  attributing  to  the  Deity 
the  errors  of  the  human  race.  * 

But  powerful  interests  are  brought  to  bear  in  support  of  this 
doctrine  ;  the  Great  who  are  great  by  virtue  of  the  present 
.  subversion,  who  have  raised  themselves  to  sway  the  destinies 
of  their  fellow  creatures  by  measures  of  violence  and  injustice, 
endeavor  of  course  to  sanction  that  history,  so  as  to  legalize 
their  rights,  their  usurpations  and  their  position.  The  scien- 


*  Mankind  have  no  doubt  an  important  preparatory  progress  to 
accomplish ;  it  is  to  develop  industry,  the  arts  and  sciences,  which 
are  the  elements  of  Association,  and  the  means  by  which  the  human 
race  fnlfil  the  ulterior  high  destiny  reserved  them.  In  our  analysis 
of  civilization,  we  will  explain  more  fully  this  progress.  It  is  im- 
portant to  point  out  the  desiiny  to  which  mankind  arc  to  attain  in 
order  to  determine  what  progress  has  already  been  accomplished, 
and  what  remains  to  be  done.  A  clear  view  in  this  question  would 
prevent  the  present  confused  mode  of  judging  historical  events. 


BETWEEN  ISOLATED  AND  COMBINED  INDUSTRY.     201 

tific  world  on  the  other  hand,  seeing  nothing  better  than  ci- 
vilization, cling  to  existing  theories,  for  the  mind  must  have 
something  to  which  it  can  cling.  Their  vanity  is  also  aroused 
by  having  so  long  supported  those  theories ;  and  if  we  add  the 
reputation  and  other  advantages,  which  they  have  acquired  in 
their  propagation,  we  should  not  be  surprised  that  they  com- 
bat %vith  tenacity  for  present  social  principles,  for  civilization 
with  its  individualism  and  family  selfishness,  and  that  they 
endeavor  to  throw  on  human  nature  the  dark  load  of  vice,  in- 
justice and  misery,  which  should  rest  alone  on  their  false  so- 
cial organizations. 

Fourier  followed  an  entirely  different  rout ;  he  laid  down 
the  principle  of  absolute  doubt  of  pre-existing  theories,  and 
proceeded  on  the  ground  of  a  systematic  deviation  from  ci- 
vilized and  other  social  systems.  From  this  starting  point,  he 
arrived  at  a  knowledge  of  the  law,  which  regulates  the  de- 
velopment of  the  passions,  and  at  a  knowledge  of  the  practical 
organization  of  a  new  social  order.  We  will  point  out  some 
of  the  points  wherein  he  has  deviated  from  present  doctrines. 
'The  world  has  always  asserted  that  the  passions  are  de- 
praved and  vicious,  and  that  repression  and  subjection  are  the 
only  means  of  guaranteeing  even  partial  order  on  the  earl*, — 
perfect  order  being  entirely  impossible.  Fourier  in  contradic- 
tion asserts  that  the  passions  are  good,  the  most  perfect  work 
of  the  Divinity,  and  capable  of  brilliant  and  harmonic  develop- 
ments. 

The  world  believes  that  the  earth  is  a  valley  of  tears,  a 
place  of  probation, — some  incoherent  part  or  fragment  of  an 
other  and  higher  destiny.  Fourier  acknowledges  that  the 
earth  is  an  abode  of  misery,  while  our  subversive  societies 
sway  the  destinies  of  mankind;  but  he  asserts  that  in  truth  it 
can  be  made  a  magnificent  terrestial  residence,  that  it  is  a 
noble  field  for  the  development  of  human  activity,  and  that 
the  destiny  reserved  man  upon  it,  IB  every  way  proportional  to 
the  attractions  implanted  in  his  nature. 


202  or  THE  OPTION  OF  THE  DIVINITY 


It  is  also  a  general  belief  that  constraint,  operating  through 
fear,  violence  and  punishments,  is  the  only  means  of  keeping 
a  curb  upon  the  passions,  of  maintaining  the  existence  of  so- 
ciety, and  of  guaranteeing  order  and  the  persistence  of  the 
mass  in  labor.  Fourier  asserts  that  Attraction  is  the  only  law 
the  Divinity  makes  use  of  in  governing  the  Universe,  and  that 
unless  man  be  out  of  unity  with  the  Divinity,  an  isolated  and 
discordant  being,  excluded  from  the  advantages  in  which  all 
creation  participates,  he  must  be  governed  also  by  attraction, 
the  only  law,  which  conciliates  the  being  governed  with  the 
governing  power. 

The  world  supposes  that  but  one  order  of  societies  can 
exist,  the  present  false  ones  with  their  indigence  and  re- 
pugnant industry,  and  that  but  one  mode  of  development  of 
the  passions  is  possible.  What  we  have  said,  is  sufficient  to 
show  that  the  social  movement  is  compound,  and  that  a  dif- 
ferent order  of  societies  may  exist.  When  we  see  that  man- 
kind have  raised  themselves  from  the  savage  state  to  their 
present  position,  what  folly  it  is  to  suppose  that  they  are  to 
stop  short  at  this  stage  of  their  development. 

We  could  extend  these  comparisons  indefinitely,  but  we 
will  terminate  them  with  a  general  table  of  comparison  be- 
tween civilized  and  combined  Industry.  This  table,  which 
we  take  from  Fourier,  is  a  general  summary  of  the  practical 
deviation  of  his  system  from  the  present  industrial  organiza- 
tion. It  is  so  complete,  that  we  leave  it  to  the  reader  to  de- 
cide whether  refutation  is  possible,  and  whether  we  can  award 
anything  like  a  scientific  or  common  sense  organization  to  the 
present  system  of  industry,' education  and  household  life,  when 
the  parallels  of  the  effects,  which  a  true  social  order  should 
produce,  are  held  up  in  opposition. 

Some  of  the  characters  of  the  Table  may  not  be  understood 
at  present,  but  they  will  be  explained  as  we  advance  in  the 
work.  Education  Solicited,  for  example,  may  seem  an  arbi- 
trary assertion,  but  when  we  treat  of  education  we  will  show, 


BETWEEN  ISOLATED  AtfD  COMBINED  INDUSTRY.       203 

that  such  a  result  can  be  very  easily  attained.  It  will  merely 
be  necessary  to  first  interest  children  in  some  practical  oc- 
cupations, and  then  by  connecting  certain  branches  of  theo- 
retical knowledge  relating  to  those  occupations  with  promo- 
tion in  their  little  Groups,  with  the  privilege  of  wearing  the 
uniforms  of  the  same,  and  with  the  prerogative  of  performing 
some  higher  function,  to  induce  them  to  solicit  such  instruc- 
tion, and  to  apply  themselves  diligently  to  its  acquirement. 

Number  seventeen,  Excesses  produced  by  continued  priva- 
tions, is  more  easily  understood.  Balls  and  parties  are  fre- 
quently continued  all  night,  merely  because  they  are  a  rare 
pleasure ;  dinner  parties  and  in  fact  all  our  amusements  are 
prolonged  for  the  same  reason  beyond  what  is  advisable  for 
health.  The  most  perfect  example  of  abandonment  to  excesses 
we  find,  however,  in  the  case  of  sailors,  who,  of  all  classes, 
endure  the  most  prolonged  and  terrible  privations. 

It  may  be  laid  down  as  a  general  rule  that  civilized  plea- 
sures are  false  in  two  respects : — they  are,  first,  in  themselves 
excesses;  and  second,  they  lead  to  idleness,  and  are  entirely 
unconnected  with  useful  Industry. 

(The  Table  adjoining  being  a  table  of  comparison,  it  is  to 
be  read  across  the  two  pages.) 


204  OF    THE    OPTION    OF    THE    DIVINITY 


SCALE  OF  A  SYSTEMATIC  DEVIATION  FROM 

1.  Smallest  possible  assemblage ;  one  single  family  deprived  of 
capital,  credit  and  implements  of  Industry. 

2.  Absence  of  a  sharehold  system  of  property,  of  Association  and 
its  immense  economies. 

3.  Separation  and  conflict  of  the  three  primary  branches  of  In- 
dustry,— agriculture,  manufactures  and  domestic  occupations. 

4.  Solitary  and  prolonged  occupations  without  rivalry. 

5.  Monotonous  occupations,  continued  often  for  life  without  varie- 
ty : — talents  undeveloped.  ' 

6.  Incoherent  ^application  of  the  labor  of  sexes  and  ages,  and  bad 
adaptation  of  crops  to  soils. 

7.  No  just  reward  according  to  capacities;  no  distinct  division  of 
profits  to  each  person,  man,  woman  and  child. 

8.  Complicated  and  cumulative  exercise  of  Industry,  obliging  an 
individual  to  oversee  all  branches  of  a  work. 

9.  Discord  and  antipathy  of  the  rich,  middle   and  poor  classes  in 
Industry,  and  in  oilier  relations. 

10.  Conflict  of  discords,  antipathies  and  inequalities. 

11.  Arbitrary  statutes,  repressive  of  capacities. 

12.  Strict  system  of  labor  imposed  upon  the  mass. 

13.  Toilsome  labor,  pursued  from  want  and  constraint. 

14.  Unprofitable,  unhealthy  and  useless  works. 

15.  Painful  obedience  of  individual  to  individual,  humiliating  do- 
mestic service  for  want  of  choice  and  sympathy. 

1R.  Bad  food,  and  in  quantity  frequently  insufficient. 

17.  Excesses  in  pleasures  produced,  by  continued  privations. 

18.  Envious  and  refractory  spirit  among  the  lower  classes. 

19.  Exclusion  of  the  laborer  from  an  interest  in  enterprises,  and 
frequent  privation  of  the  enjoyment  of  the  products  of  his  labor. 

20.  Indirect  servitude  from  indigence. 

21.  .Permanence  of  fraud  and  larceny  in  all  relations. 

22.  Coerced  education;  slow  and  sterile  studies. 

23.  Perversion  and"  misdirection  of  the  sensual  and  intellectual 
faculties. 

24.  Subversive  and  pernicious  development  of  the  passions   and 
instincts,  without  equilibriums  to  check  excesses. 

25.  Riches  acquired  by  the  practice  of  injustice  and  indirect  fraud. 

26.  Loss  of  fortune  and  health  in  the  pursuit  of  pleasures. 

27.  Deterioration  of  climate  and  races. 

28.  Conflict  of  individual  and  collective  interests. 

29.  Production  and  consumption  subservient  to  commerce, — de- 
pendent upon  it  for  all  exchanges. 

30.  Complicated  anxiety  and  vexation  in  Industry ;  double  mis- 
fortune for  the  mass. 


BETWEEN    ISOLATED  AND  COMBINED  INDUSTRY.    205 


THE  PRESENT  INDUSTRIAL  ORGANIZATION. 

1.  Large  Associations ;  eighteen  hundred  to  two  thousand  per- 
sons, well  provided  with  capital,  credit  and  means. 

2.  All  property, — lands,  edifices,  flocks,  etc.,  represented  by  stock, 
divided  into  shares,  negotiable  and  re-imbursablo  at  will. 

3.  Combination  and  connexion  of  these  primary  branches  of  in- 
dustry in  the  Phalanx,  with  suits  of  rooms,  tables,  etc ,  to  suit  all 
tastes  and  fortunes 

4 .  Short  and  varied  occupations  in  Groups,  stimulated  by»  emula- 
tion. 

5.  Multiplicity  of  occupations  open  to  the  free  cluice  of  indivi- 
duals, and  adapted  to  all  instincts. 

6.  Appropriate  application  61  the  labor  of  sexes  and  ages,  soils,  etc. 

7.  Profits  awarded  to  labor,  capital  and  skill,  and  paid  individual- 
ly to  every  person,  man,  woman  and  child. 

8.  Parceled  exercise,  giving  each  individual  the  liberty  of  choos- 
ing in  all  branches  of  work  the  part,  which  he  prefers. 

9.  Association  and  co-operation  of  the  three  degrees  of  fortune  in 
Industry,  without  permanent  or  forced  connexion. 

10.  Indirect  concurrence  of  passions  and  inequalities,  now  dis- 
cordant 

11.  Free  development  und  useful  employment  of  capacities. 

12.  Corporative  harmony  of  the  Groups  and  Series. 

13.  Gaiety  and  ardour  of  free  and  rival  Groups. 

14.  Works  of  assured  profit,  and  healthy  from  short   occupation* 

15.  Honorable  obedience  to  the   decision   of  the  mass  ;  friendly 
choice  in  domestic  service. 

16.  Excellence  and  abundance  of  food,  adapted  to  all  t . 

17.  Counterpoise  to  excesses  from  variety  of  pleasures. 

18.  Courtesy  of  the  mass;  general  good  will  from  the  certainty 
of  encouragement  and  reward  of  merit. 

19.  Easy  acquirement  of  share-hold  property,  and  participation  in 
the  enjoyment  of  all  advantages. 

20.  Liberty  guaranteed  by  a  Minimum  or  ample  sufficiency,  and 
by  Attractive  industry. 

21.  Impossibility  of  larceny  and  industrial  frauds. 
22    Solicited  instruction  and  rapid   progress. 

23.  Just  and  full  development  of  the  senses  and  of  the  mind. 

24.  Passions  and  instincts  directed   to  Industry,  and  equilibrated 
by  double  counterpoises. 

~'..r>.  Truth  and  justice  the  sole  avenues  to  wealth. 

26.  Health  and  profit  found  in  the  pleasures  of  Attractive  industry. 

27.  Amelioration   of  climate,  and  improvement  of  man  and  tho 
animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms. 

28.  Permanent  coincidence  of  these  two  interests. 
23.  End  of  the  int<-rmcdiate  rapine  of  commerce. 

30.  High  enjoyment  connected   with   Industry ;    compound  hap 
pi  new. 


206  THK    PASSIONS. 


CHAPTER  FIFTEENTH. 

THE    PASSIOXS. 

Up  to  the  present  time  we  have  only  been  able  to  admire  in 
the  works  of  Man  the  material  beautiful.  For  the  first  time 
we  shall  see  the  passional  beautiful,  see  the  Creator  in  person 
and  in  all  his  wisdom ;  for  what  is  the  spirit,  the  wisdom  of 
the  Divinity,  if  it  be  not  the  harmony  of  the  twelve  passions, 
their  complete  development  without  any  conflict,  and  in  as  per- 
fect an  accord  as  that  of  an  excellent  orchestra !  This  beautiful 
work  is  the  only  one  which  can  give  mankind  an  idea  of  the 
glory  and  wisdom  of  the  Divinity. 

We  see  at  present  his  material  wisdom,  which  bursts  forth 
in  the  Harmony  of  the  celestial  spheres,  and  in  the  mechanism 
of  created  things  ;  but  we  have  no  idea  of  his  Political  and  So- 
fial  wisdom.  Of  the  Social  Movement  we  have  no  other 
examples  than  those  of  our  subversive  societies,  in  the  fraud, 
pillage  and  oppression  of  which  there  breathes  a  demoniac  spirit. 
We  shall  only  see  the  spirit  of  God  in  the  Harmony  of  the  Pas- 
sional series,  in  their  unity,  their  virtues  and  in  the  charm 
which  stimulates  them  unceasingly  to  useful  Industry. 

Fourier. 

The  Soul  or  Active  sensitive  principle  in  man,  considered 
as  a  whole,  is  one  passion,  UNITYISM.  From  out  of  this 
primitive  Passion  emerge  the  others,  as  the  colors  of  light 
emerge  from  the  primitive  or  white  ray.  If  we  compare  this 
passion  to  a  stem  with  its  branches,  we  find : 


THE    PASSIONS.  207 

"  As  stem,  one  passion  Unityism,     .  Tendency  to  Unity. 

As  its  primary  branches,  three      ("Tendency  to  Riches.  * 
passions  ............   "J  Tendency  to  Groups. 

(^  Tendency  to  Series. 


As  its  secondary,  branches  twelve     f  "*ve  Sensitive. 
passions  ............   "S  Four  Affective. 

(^  Three  Distributive. 

As  its  branches  of  the  third  degree,    Thirty  two  passions. 
As  its  branches  of  the  fourth  degree,  One  hundred  and  thirty 

passions. 

As  its  branches  of  the  fifth  degree,    Four  hundred    and    five 

passions.  "  f 

As  twelve  is  the  first  number,  which  contains  a  sufficient 
quantity  of  multiplicands  and  divisors,  it  is  made  use  of  by  Na- 
ture, as  the  fundamental  number  in  her  harmonies. 

The  three  passions,  forming  the  primary  branches,  are 
masses  of  the  twelve  radical  passions,  as  the  large  table  shows  ; 
and  those  forming  the  third,  fourth  and  fifth  branches,  are 
shades  or  minor  developments  of  the  original  twelve. 

The  Soul  of  man,  or  Scale  of  the  twelve  radical  passions, 
is  a  system  of  twelve  harmonies  complete  within  itself.  Man 
was  created  in  the  "  Image  of  the  Divinity  "  that  is,  his  soul  ; 
for  the  great  Active  principle  or  Soul  of  the  Universe,  is  a 
Scale  of  twelve  fundamental  harmonies,  as  man  is  in  his 
sphere. 

*  Bj  riches  arc  to  be  understood  everything  necessary  .to  phy- 
sical enjoyment  and  happiness,  —  good  food,  clothes,  edifices  and 
elegance  of  all  objects  around  us. 

t  The  fifth  is  the  highest  development  of  the  passions  in  the  in- 
dividual ;  after  that  comes  the  action  of  characters  in  Series,  and 
then  the  higher  characteristic  developments  of  Nations. 


THE    PASSIONS. 


We  will  make  use  of  some  analogies,  which  we  find  in 
music,  to  illustrate  more  familiarly  the  action  of  the  soul  in 
man,  which  we  repeat,  is  a  full  scale  of  twelve  passional  har- 
monies, as  music  is  a  scale  of  twelve  harmonies  of  sounds. 
The  latter  with  its  twelve  radical  notes  or  vibrations, — its  ac- 
cords and  discords,  is  regulated  with  perfect  precision ;  there 
is  nothing  arbitrary  in  the  number  of  these  notes  and  their  ar- 
rangjement ;  nothing  of  the  invention  of  maa ;  he  has  strictly 
followed  Nature. 

The  scale  of  the  twelve  original  sounds  is  capable  of  vast 
developments;  all  the  music  that  has  ever  been  composed,  is 
but  varied  combinations  of  this  primitive  harmony.  No  new 
note  has  been  discovered  and  added  to  it,  and  not  a  single  one 
can  be  taken  from  it,  without  destroying  the  effect  of  the 
eleven  others.  It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  it  is  a  full  and 
indivisible  Harmony  within  itself,  capable  of  infinite  combi- 
nations, which  give  it  a  character,  that  we  will  call  pro- 
gressive. The  Active  passional  principle  in  man  is  also  a 
full  and  indivisible  Harmony ;  capable  of  vast  developments, 
associations  and  combinations,  commencing  with  sympathies 
between  individuals,  and  extending  to  an  association  of  the 
entire  race  on  the  globe.  Man  therefore  in  another  and  higher 
spliere,  may  be  characterised  as  a  progressive  being ;  he  can 
raise  himself  from  a  rude  and  savage  state,  where  he  is  with- 
out any  development  of  his  interior  harmonies,  and  without 
any  knowledge  of  those  of  the  exterior  world,  to  a  degree  of 
perfection  of  which  civilized  man  has  no  idea,  although  he 
has  developed  perfectly  one  of  his  harmonies,  that  of  hearing, 


THH    PASSIONS.  209 

and  comprehended  one  branch  of  universal  harmony,  the  pla- 
netary. 

The  soul  of  man  being  a  complete  harmony,  has  within 
itself  the  type  of  the  harmonies  of  the  Universe,  and  can, 
with  the  aid  of  those  proportional  intellectual  faculties,  which 
have  been  given  it,  elevate  itself  to  comprehend  their  system. 
That  there  is  a  perfect  correspondence  between  the  harmonies 
of  the  passions  and  those  of  the  material  world,  is  proved  by 
the  fact,  that  the  sense  of  hearing  is  adapted  with  mathema- 
tical precision  to  the  harmony  of  vibrations ;  the  ear  does  not 
lead  to  discords  and  combinations,  which  violate  its  laws ;  this 
sensitive  passion  therefore  is  a  true  guide  in  its  sphere, — it 
leads  to  the  finest  and  richest  of  musical  harmonies.  Why 
should  not  the  eleven  others  direct  us  rightly  also  in  their 
spheres!  Why  do  they  lead  to  discord  and  perdition,  unless 
it  is  because  the  law  which  regulates  them — the  Passional 
Serie — has  not  been  discovered  and  applied  to  them  1 

It  is  very  evident  that  man  is  in  discord — in  war  with  him- 
self; that  his  passions  clash,  lead  to  conflict  and  duplicity 
without  end,  and  that  he  has  to  resort  to  reason  and  extra- 
neous means  of  all  kinds, — to  punishments  here,  and  punish- 
ments hereafter — to  repress  and  keep  them  in  subjection.  The 
present  condition  must  be  a  false  one;  the  passional,  and,  as  a 
consequence,  the  social  incoherence  which  reigns,  must  be 
susceptible  of  correction;  for  the  passions  are  not  demoniac 
creations,  inherently  discordant;  they  were  created  by  the 
same  Being  who  distributes  the  other  harmonies  of  the  Uni- 
verse, and  they  therefore  mutt  be  capable  of  a  harmonic  ac- 

14 


212  THE    PASSIONS. 

satisfying  the  passions  implanted  within  him,  attains  his  hap- 
piness. We  will  cite  merely  two  examples  as  hints.  The 
satisfaction  of  the  passion  love,  a  high  delight  to  man,  gua- 
rantees the  perpetuation  of  the  species, — the  aim  and  wish  of 
theDivinity.  The  various  pleasures  man  gratifies  by  the  pro- 
ducts, which  he  draws  from  industry,  would  guarantee  in  As- 
sociation a  universal  and  varied  cultivation  of  the  earth's  sur- 
face, which  is  another  important  aim  of  the  Creator.  * 

If  Industry  be  circumscribed  in  the  barbarian  and  civilized 
societies,  it  is  because  the  disgusts  attendant  upon  its  exer- 
cise, upon  working  fifteen  hours  per  day,  for  example,  in  a 
confined  manufactory,  are  greater  than  the  pleasures  it  pro- 
cures. In  fact  in  our  oppressive  system  of  Industry,  it  re- 
quires the  most  intense  passion, — the  love  of  life,  which  is  a 
convergency  of  all  the  passions,  to  induce  the  mass  to  support 
its  burden. 

The  body,  it  is  evident,  is  the  organ,  the  medium  through 
which  and  by  which  the  passions  act  and  manifest  themselves 
outwardly.  In  common  terms,  we  say  the  Will  acts ;  and 
so  little  is  known  of  the  passions,  which  are  the  sole  active 
principle  within  us,  that  it  is  supposed  the  will  is  an  inde- 
pendent faculty,  a  distinct  power:  this  is  an  error;  it  is  mere- 
ly  the  manifestation  of  some  passion  acting  within  us  at  the 
time  we  will;  it  is  a  convenient  term  to  express  in  a  general 
manner  the  action  of  the  passions  without  particularizing  them. 
Prom  what  we  have  said  the  reader  perceives,  that  we  as- 

*  In  the  Chapter  on  the  Destiny  of  Man,  we  will  point  out  the 

f  i       u-     ,•          r*u       i  t~ 

importance  of  a  general  cultivation  of  the  globe. 


THE    PASSIONS.  213 

sign  to  the  passions  the  high  office  of  guiding  the  being  in 
whom  they  are  implanted ;  all  our  actions  from  the  most  minute 
to  the  most  important,  are  impulses  of  passions  or  shades  of 
passions.  If  we  exKamine  attentively  the  acts  of  men,  we  will 
always  discover  some  passional  incentive  at  the  bottom.  If 
Brutus  condemned  his  own  son  to  death,  it  was  because  a  pas- 
sion more  powerful  than  that  of  paternity,  was  acting  within 
him.  If  the  savage,  burning  at  the  stake,  maintains  a  calm 
under  excruciating  torture,  and  amidst  the  taunts  of  enemies, 
it  is  because  a  powerful  passional  energy  is  aroused  within 
him,  which  overcomes  physical  suffering;  whether  it  springs 
from  branches  of  ambition  and  rivalry  we  will  not  stop  to  en- 
quire ;  phrenologists  would  say,  love  of  approbation  and  firm- 
ness ;  it  is  evident  that  one,  two  or  more  strong  passions  sustain 
his  courage,  and  counterbalance  suffering  and  the  dread  of 
death. 

It  is  supposed  that  men  act  from  reason,  and  that  it  is  an 
impelling  power;  this  is  an  other  error;  reason  enlightens  the 
passions,  spreads,  so  to  say,  before  them  all  attendant  cir- 
cumstances, and  points  out  the  results  which  may  be  produced 
immediately,  or  at  a  future  time  by  their  action ;  but  those 
passions  do  not  cease  to  be  the  sole  source  of  activity.  When 
the  passions  receive  a  noble  development,  reason  has  a  noble 
career  open  before  it;  v:hen  they  are  subversively  developed, 
i*.  becomes  but  too  often  their  degraded  tool.  Is  there  not  us 
much  skill  displayed  in  the  accomplishing  of  roguery  and 
crime,  as  in  the  accomplishing  of  noble  deeds?  We  may  lay 
it  down  as  a  general  rule,  that  in  all  cases  where  a  powerful 


210  THE    PASSIONS. 

tion.  Man  should  have  proceeded  instinctively  upon  this  be- 
lief, instead  of  which  he  has  sought  to  force  upon  them  his 
own  false  doctrines  and  false  social  principles. 

The  primary  knowledge  of  man  should  be  a  knowledge  of 
himself,  a  comprehension  of  his  Passional  harmonies.  Pos- 
sessing this  knowledge,  he  can  adapt  his  social  relations  to  his 
nature ;  which  done,  he  enters  into  a  career  of  social  harmony. 

This  is  the  great  and  leading  object  to  be  attained ;  for  the 
cultivation  and  embellishment  of  the  earth,  the  perfecting  of 
the  animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms,  the  developing  of  all  the 
material  harmonies  of  Nature,  are  dependent  upon  the  action 
of  man ; — he  is  their  pivot,  their  key-stone.  If  he  be  in  pas- 
sional and  social  discord  with  himself,  his  subversion  extends 
to  the  entire  globe,  which  is  ravaged,  and  to  all  the  creations 
upon  it,  which  suffer  more  or  less;  the  principles  of  order, 
liberty  and  happiness,  which  are  attributes  of  his  nature,  are 
replaced  by  discord,  oppression  and  suffering.  A  vast  change 
is  necessary ;  man  should  elevate  himself  to  a  knowledge  of 
his  destiny,  and  assume  his  proper  rank  upon  the  earth ;  he  b 
the  Vicegerent  of  the  Divinity,  placed  here  to  perfect  the 
kingdoms  of  Nature,  and  to  develop  all  her  harmonies;  if  he  so 
choose, — he  can  make  the  earth,  now  so  neglected,  a  magni- 
ficent terrestial  abode,  securing  in  so  doing  his  own  happiness, 
and  extending  the  charm  of  existence  to  every  thing  that  lives 
and  feels  around  him.  This  is  his  Destiny ;  and  the  high 
power  and  trist,  which  are  thus  confered  upon  him,  constitute 
his  dignity,  his  importance  in  the  scale  of  beings,  and  entitle 
him  to  the  gift  of  Immortality ! 


THE    PASSIONS.  211 

The  Passive  principle  in  the  Universe,  matter,  is  repre- 
sented in  man,  as  we  observed,  by  the  body,  which  is  the 
implement  of  the  soul.  How  could  the  passions  act,  if  it  were 
not  for  our  physical  structure,  upon  the  exterior  and  material 
world  1  Being  of  a  different  nature,  they  must  have  a  body 
of  the  same  substance  as  that  world,  to  act  upon  it.  The  pas- 
sions, moreover,  can  only  manifest  themselves  through  material 
means.  A  musician  may  have  a  harmony  in  his  imagination  , 
but  to  develop  or  realize  it  satisfactorily  and  with  perfection, 
he  requires  a  material  instrument  made  by  human  art,  and  he 
must  have  fingers  to  play  upon  it  Man,  from  his  physical  or- 
ganization, requires  edifices  to  protect  him  from  the  elements  , 
but  if  ambition  lead  him  to  desire  something  magnificent  in 
architecture,  to  desire  a  palace,  there  must  be  hands  to  hevr 
the  marble  and  to  place  it  symmetrically,  and  eyes  to  direct 
the  whole  ;  his  passion  can  only  be  gratified  by  a.  prolonged 
action  of  the  body  on  the  physical  world.  Of  what  value  would 
the  harmonies  of  lines  and  colors  be,  if  they  were  to  remain  in 
the  imagination  of  the  painter:  they  would  afford  him  verj 
little  satisfaction,  and  none  to  his  fellow  creatures.  He  must 
have  canvass  and  colors  to  embody  his  conceptions,  otherwise 
they  are  lost.  The  body  is  also  the  means  of  exchange  of 
sympathies  between  individuals ;  the  caress  of  love,  the  pres- 
sure of  the  hand  of  friendship ;  the  smile  of  delight;  the  look, 
the  gesture  of  approbation,  are  acts  of  the  body  to  exprew 
and  convey  shades  of  passional  emotions. 

If  it  were  not  that  it  would  lead  us  too  far,  we  would  show 
how  the  Divinity  attains  his  ends,  at  the  same  time  that  roan. 


214  THE    PASSIONS. 

poftsion  sways  an  individual,  reason  is  enchained  to  its  service 
and  obeys  its  impulse. 

Reason  is  equally  active  in  Napoleon,  planing  battles ;  in 
Columbus  seeking  means  of  carrying  out  his  geographical 
views ;  in  Luther  effecting  a  reform ;  powerful  passions,  am- 
bition and  others,  in  all  these  three  cases  are  the  impelling 
principle,  and  every  faculty  of  the  intelligence  lends  them  its 
aid.  If  we  examine  the  course  of  our  subversive  societies,. 
we  find  that  the  powers  of  the  mind  are  but  too  servilely 
obedient  to  the  suggestions  of  the  passions ;  how  many  devices 
are  lent  to  fraud  and  deceit,  how  many  excuses  are  invented 
for  selfishness  and  indifference,  and  with  what  specious  pre- 
texts do  tyranny  and  injustice  clothe  themselves !  So  long  as 
the  passions  are  false  in  their  action,  the  faculties  of  the  mind 
with  the  vast  majority  are  prostituted.  This  is  proved  by  the 
daily  experience  of  the  world,  and  it  cannot  be  denied  withont 
denying  evidence.  The  passions  must  first  be  rightly  directed, 
otherwise  intellectual  dignity  exists  merely  as  an  exception. 

Reason  is  to  the  soul  in  the  intellectual  world,  what  the 
body  is  to  it,  in  the  material  world.  They  both  follow  the  im- 
pulse of  that  central  power.  *  Theorists  assign  to  the  in- 
tellect or  reason,  the  especial  task  of  guiding  and  controling 

*  It  would  be  easy  to1  prove,  if  we  chose  to  go  into  an  abstract 
Analysis  of  this  subject,  that  the  highest  conceptions  of  mankind, 
that  of  the  existence  of  the  Divinity,  of  the  Immortality  of  the  soul, 
are  harmonic  impulses  of  the  passions,  which  instinctively  conceive 
these  high  truths,  because  there  is  an  intimate  co-relation  or  analogy 
between  our  Passional  and  the  Universal  harmonies.  Reason  alone 
(iocs  no.  more  suggest  these  conceptions,  than  it  creates  the  har- 
monies of  music. 


THE    PASSIONS,  215 

the  passions,  and  of  keeping  them  in  subjection.  They  sup- 
pose that  there  is  no  regulating  principle  within  the  passions 
themselves ;  this  error  arises  from  their  ignorance  of  those 
springs  of  action.  The  passions  tend  to  comprehensive  and 
noble  harmonies.  Harmony  is  the  highest  attribute  of  the  Di- 
vinity, comprising  within  itself  all  minor  qualities,  such  as  truth, 
justice,  liberty,  order.  We  know  by  experience  that  one  of 
them, — the  sensitive  passion,  hearing,  tends  in  its  sphere  to 
exquisite  musical  harmonies;  it  remains  to  be  proved  that 
friendship,  love,  ambition,  paternity  and  the  others,  tend  in 
their  spheres  to  equally  brilliant  harmonies.  Their  natural 
tendency,  however,  in  civilization  is  completly  reversed;  a 
social  change  must  therefore  take  place ;  and  let  us  hope  for 
the  cause  of  humanity,  that  so  important  an  undertaking  will 
not  meet  with  opponents  to  retard  its  progress. 

The  discovery  of  the  Law,  which  regulates  the  passional 
and  other  harmonies  of  the  Universe,  is  a  high  and  important 
task;  it  is  a  duty  especially  reserved  to  the  mind,  and  it 
certainly  cannot  employ  its  efforts  more  nobly.  But  philo- 
sophers and  moralists  have  so  entirely  misconceived  its  of- 
fice, that  they  look  upon  it  as  a  mere  agent  to  repress  and 
restrain  the  passions.  In  the  performance  of  the  unnatural 
task  which  has  been  assigned  to  it,  it  neither  secures  enjoy- 
ment to  the  individual,  nor  realizes  order  and  happiness  in 
society ;  for  the  passions  will  act,  and  if  they  cannot  har- 
monically, they  re-percuss,  and  take  a  subversive  development. 
The  idea  of  repressing  and  subjecting  the  passions, — the 
favorite  scheme  of  moralists  and  legislators,  is  one  which 


216  THE    PASSIONS. 

has  called  forth  a  thousand  different  moral  systems,  which 
have  been  sustained  by  every  measure  of  violence  and  re- 
pression, that  ingenuity  could  suggest,  from  scaffolds  and 
prisons,  down  to  the  most  simple  punishments.  After  all  this 
waste  of  efforts,  no  practical,  no  effective  results  have  been 
attained,  for  the  world,  to  say  the  least,  is  fully  as  immoral 
now  as  it  has  been  at  any  former  period. 

Happiness  has  been  variously  explained,  but  no  definition 
has,  we  believe,  become  orthodox  and  satisfactory  to  the 
world.  We  will  give  a  very  concise  one,  which  we  deduce 
from  the  principles  heretofore  laid  down :  Happiness  con- 
sists in  the  continued  satisfaction  of  the  twelve  passions 
harmonically  developed.  Moralists  having  pursued  an  entirely 
false  route  in  their  studies  of  Nature,  have  of  course  arrived 
at  exactly  a  contrary  definition ;  they  declare  that  happiness 
is  only  to  be  attained  in  a  continued  repression  of  the  pas- 
sions,  and  that  reason  is  given  to  us  to  control  them.* 

But  this  harmonic  development,  necessary  to  the  happiness 
of  mankind,  answer  moralists,  is  incompatible  with  virtue. 

*  During  the  twenty-five  or  thirty  centuries  that  the  sciences 
have  been  cultivated,  the  passions  have  not  been  an  object  of  study 
and  investigation.  Each  succeeding  generation  and  doctrine  have 
condemned  them  as  depraved,  and  this  superficial  error,  which  any 
attentive  examination  would  have  corrected,  has  been  continued  for 
three  thousand  years. 

"  The  duplicity  of  action,  the  conflict  of  man  with  himself,  caused 
by  the  subversion  of  the  passions,  which,  out  of  the  Combined 
order,  are  in  general  discord,  has  called  into  existence  our  Moral 
systems,  which  consider  this  duplicity  of  action  as  the  esscntia 


THE    PASSIONS. 


They  think  so,  because  they  believe  tho  passions  are  naturally 
depraved,  and  because  they  take  their  present  development 
as  the  only  one  of  which  they  are  susceptible.  Reasoning, 
however,  avails  nothing  against  deeply  rooted  opinions.  "Your 
system  of  the  goodness  of  the  passions,"  say  they,  when  they 
find  nothing  else  to  add,  "is  very  fine  in  theory,  but  it  will  be 
found  false  in  practice.  Your  scheme  of  organizing  a  society 
adapted  to  them,  and  different  from  civilization  is  impossible, 
totally  impossible."  Impossible,  however,  is  the  objection  of 
timid  minds,  who  are  appaled  at  the  idea  of  a  great  social 
change,  and  who  have  neither  sympathy  enough  for  the  woes 
and  miseries  of  mankind,  nor  indignation  enough  at  their  de- 
gradation, to  overcome  it ! 

state  and  immutable  destiny  of  man.  They  teach  that  he  should 
resist  his  passions,  be  in  war  with  them  and  with  himself;  principle 
which  places  man  in  war  with  God ;  for  the  passions  and  instincts 
come  from  God,  who  has  given  them  for  guides  to  man  and  to  all 
his  creatures. 

"la  answer  to  this,  is  set  forth  the  intervention  of  reason,  which, 
as  it  is  avercd,  the  Greater  has  given  us  as  a  guide  and  a  moderator 
of  the  passions ;  whence  it  would  result : 

u  1st.  That  the  Creator  has  subjected  us  to  two  irreconcilable  and 
antipathetic  guides,  passion  and  reason:  (theoretical  duplicity.) 

"2d.  That  the  Creator  is  unjust  towards  tho  ninety-nine  hun- 
dreths  of  men,  to  whom  he  has  not  given  reason  sufficient  to  cope 
with  the  passions  :  (distributive  duplicity.) 

"  3d.  That  the  Creator  in  giving  us  reason  as  a  counterpoise,  has 
acted  like  an  unskilful  mechanician;  for  it  is  evident  that  this 
means  is  impotent  even  with  the  one  hundrcth  of  men,  who  are  pro- 
vided with  it,  for  the  oracles  of  reason  themselves  are  often  the 
greatest  slaves  of  their  passions:  (practical  duplicity.)" 


218  THE    PASSIONS. 

Man  is  in  intellectual  identity  with  the  Divinity  from  the 
conformity  of  his  soul  with  the  Active  principle  in  the  uni- 
verse ;  and  he  is  in  material  identity  with  the  Divinity,  be- 
cause he  is  admitted  to  the  employ  and  use  of  fire,  the  blood 
of  the  Universe,  a  privilege  which  is  not  granted  to  animals. 
This  double  identity  gives  man  the  power  of  knowing  and 
comprehending  God;  but  to  obtain  an  exact  and  scientific 
knowledge  of  his  Essence,  man  must  discover  the  laws  by 
which  he  regulates  his  creations  in  the  five  branches  of  Move- 
ments, pointed  out  at  page  151.  This  is  the  socond  high  func- 
tion, which  is  delegated  to  the  mind,  and  its  importance  shows 
how  human  intelligence  has  been  misdirected  by  the  scientific 
and  moral  leaders  of  man,  who  have  wasted  their  efforts  in 
superficial  controversies,  and  in  concocting  theories  deroga- 
tory to,  and  repressive  of  the  passions.  They  have  plunged 
the  world  into  a  double  error ;  they  have  persuaded  mankind 
that  human  nature  is  naturally  depraved  and  vicious,  and  that 
the  Divinity, — the  great  active  Principle  who  regulates  the 
millions  of  worlds  which  roll  around  him  with  such  sublime 
and  majestic  harmonies,  has  created  a  depraved  being,  and 
given  him  no  other  law  than  constraint  to  guide  him.  To  this 
semi-atheism,  they  have  added  want  of  all  consistency,  for 
after  having  condemned  mankind  collectively,  they  wish  to 
correct  and  reform  the  individual ! ! 

During  the  reign  of  this  state  of  ignorance,  man  is  plunged 
into  conflict  with  himself,  with  Nature  and  with  the  Divinity. 
His  unregulated  passions  burst  out  in  re-percussions  and  sub- 
versive developments,  which  are  faithfully  depicted  in  his  so- 


THE    PASSIONS.  219 

cieties,  the  course  of  which  is  marked  with  every  variety  of 
crime,  oppression  and  misery. 

In  examining  the  economies  of  Association,  we  showed  that 
this  new  Social  order  would  lead  to  the  production  of  colossal 
riches,  which  are  necessary  to  material  happiness.  But  from 
what  we  have  now  said,  the  reader  perceives  that  .Associa- 
tion, based  upon  the  integral  development  of  the  passions,  and 
attraction,  regulated  by  the  law  of  the  Serie,  would  lead  also 
to  a  fundamental  change  in  the  Intellectual  and  Passional 
existence  of  mankind.  Man  in  this  new  order  will  be  rein- 
tegrated, restored  to  his  original  harmonies,  from  which  he 
fell  in  falling  into  the  four  subversive  societies,  which  he  has 
organized  upon  the  earth,  without  knowing  how  to  organize 
the  true  one.  Those  whom  Association  may  not  interest  on 
account  of  its  pecuniary,  industrial  and  material  advantages, 
may  be  interested  by  the  perspective  of  the  great  intellectual 
revolution,  which  it  will  effect.  The  subject  is  so  important, 
that  it  should  be  brought  up  under  every  form,  considered  in 
every  light,  in  order  to  awaken  an  interest  in  it;  and  if  we 
sometimes  run  into  abstract  considerations,  like  the  preceding, 
which  may  open  a  field  even  to  controversy — a  thing  above  all 
which  we  wish  to  avoid — it  is  because  we  know  that  in  some 
persons  an  interest  is  only  awakened  in  that  way.  We,  how- 
ever, hurry  over  this  dangerous  ground,  for  we  would  rather 
speak  a  plain  and  practical  language, — speak  only  of  the  pro- 
fits and  economies  of  Association,  which  will  be  better  com- 
prehended by  the  present  money -making  age,  with  ita  indi 


220  THE    PASSIONS. 

vidual  undertakings,  its  projects  of  dollars  and  cents,  and  its 
shifts  and  turnings. 

Before  concluding  this  chapter,  we  will  examine  very  briefly 
the  thirteenth,  or  pivotal  passion,  UNITYISM.  If  we  have  con- 
stantly spoken  of  twelve  and  not  thirteen  passions,  it  is  be- 
cause pivots  are  not  counted  in  movement ;  an  example  of 
which  we  find  in  colors, — white,  the  pivotal  color,  not  being 
enumerated.  The  first  tendency  of  the  passion  Unityism  is  to 
universal  and  practical  unity  on  the  earth ;  to  unity  in  customs, 
laws,  manners,  religion,  language,  weights,  measures,  money, 
etc.  It  manifests  itself  particularly  in  strong  minds ; — if  ac- 
tive in  a  conqueror,  he  wishes  to  subdue  the  entire  earth,  to  re- 
duce it  to  administrative  unity  by  force ;  if  active  in  philo- 
sophers or  moralists,  they  wish  to  see  their  systems  universal, 
to  see  all  nations  guided  by  them ;  if  active  in  a  financier,  he 
wishes  to  see  some  system  of  currency  or  banking, — most  pro- 
bably of  his  own  proposing,  universally  adopted.  Each  nation 
would  like  its  language  and  customs  adopted  by  all  other  na- 
tions of  the  globe ;  thus  man  in  all  his  operations,  in  the  most 
extended  as  well  as  the  most  minute,  tends  to  unity  by  the  ac- 
tion of  this  thirteenth  passion.  We  see  it  manifested  in  a 
trifle  like  the  fashions :  all  civilized  nations  have  adopted  the 
same  mode  of  dress,  and  any  new  fashion  introduced  in  Paris 
or  London,  spreads  rapidly  throughout  the  civilized  world. 

The  second  tendency  of  Unityism  is  to  the  Intellectual 
centre  of  the  Universe, — to  the  Divinity,  from  whom  diverge 
and  to  whom  converge  all  beings,  who  possess  integral  and 
harmonic  souls,  that  is,  full  scales  of  the  twelve  passions. 


THE    PASSIONS.  221 

This  spontaneous  tendency — termed  religion,  of  man  towards 
the  Divinity,  who  is  his  Intellectual  centre  of  gravitation,  is 
due  to  the  action  of  the  above  high  passion  implanted  within 
him.  This  tendency  is  aa  natural  an  impulse,  as  that  which 
arises  from  friendship,  love  or  ambition.  We  find  the  mani- 
festation of  the  religious  sentiment  under  some  form  of  wor- 
ship among  all  races,  long  before  reason  began  making  the 
most  simple  deductions,  and  long  before  it  could,  by  its  own 
efforts,  have  gone  to  a  first  cause  for  an  explication  of  the 
creation.  The  fantastic  religious  forms  with  which  this  pivotal 
passion  has  been  clothed,  are  due  to  the  operation  of  exterior 
circumstances  acting  upon  it,  and  to  the  influence  of  other 
passions  snbversively  developed.  It  is  for  this  reason,  to  choose 
an  isolated  example,  that  the  gods  of  the  rude  and  warlike 
barbarian,  are  gods  of  war,  and  that  in  his  paradise,  he  drinks 
the  blood  of  his  enemies  from  bowls  made  of  their  skulls.  It 
may  be  laid  down  as  a  general  rule,  that  the  forms  in  which 
the  Divinity  and  the  Immortality  of  the  soul  are  clothed  by 
men,  are  reflects,  either  direct  or  inverse,  of  the  social  condi- 
tion in  which  they  live.  With  nations  satisfied  with  their  con- 
dition, the  reflect  is  direct:  the  Indian,  for  example,  imagines 
his  paradise  to  be  delightful  hunting  grounds,  where  he  will 
resume  on  a  vast  scale  his  favorite  occupations.  With  nations 
harrassed  by  anxiety,  oppression  and  misery,  the  reflect  is 
inverse ;  man  then  pictures  to  himself  a  paradise,  where  calm, 
quiet,  and  freedom  from  trouble  will  be  his  reward. 

The  twelve  passions  in  their  harmonic  development,  coo- 


THE    PASSIONS. 

verge  to  the  thirteenth  passion,  the  intensity  of  which  is  in- 
creased in  proportion  with  their  free  and  true  action.  This 
principle  leads  us  to  other  conclusions,  which  are  quite  dif- 
ferent from  the  views  generally  entertained  by  moralists ; — it 
leads  to  the  conclusion,  first,  that  in  the  combined  order,  the 
more  complete  and  perfect  the  development  of  the  twelve  pas- 
sions in  all  their  shades,  the  stronger  the  religious  sentiment 
will  be;  and  second,  that  could  moralists  succeed  in  their 
system  of  subjecting  and  smothering  the  passions,  they  would 
smother  the  religious  sentiment  at  the  same  time. 

If  we  resemble  the  Deity  because  our  souls  are  composed 
of  twelve  radical  harmonies  or  passions,  which  is  the  case 
with  all  creatures  possessing  full  and  complete  scales  of  pas- 
sions,— Planets,  Universes,  Biniverses,  Triniverses,  *  etc.,  of 
which  creations  man  is  the  lowest  harmonic  being,  and  God 
the  general  Pivot,  it  is  evident,  if  we  were  to  lose  one  or  more 
passions,  that  we  should  be  further  removed  from  the  essence 
of  the  Divinity,  and  would  cease  to  be  in  full  accord  and  unity 
with  him.  (In  the  same  manner  as  the  scale  of  the  twelve 
radical  notes  in  music,  would  cease  to  be  in  full  ond  perfect 
harmony  with  the  ear  of  man,  if  any  of  its  notes  were  want- 

*  To  distinguish  orders  of  sideral  Series,  we  will  divide  them 
into  Universes,  Biniverses,  etc.  A  Universe  is  a  Sun,  one  dcgre« 
higher  than  ours,  having  solar-systems  revolving  around  it.  Our 
sun  is  moving,  as  is  known,  around  such  a  sideral  body  once  in 
about  20,000  years.  A  Biniverse  is  a  still  higher  sideral  System, 
around  which  revolve  Universes  with  their  trains  of  solar-systems. 
A  Triniverse  is  the  centre  of  a  eerie  of  Biniverses,  which  perform 
their  revolutions  on  a  scale  BO  vast,  that  it  overpowers  conception. 


THE   PASSIONS.  223 

ing.)  The  loss  of  several  of  our  passions  would  sink  us  to  the 
rank  of  animals.  Animals,  according  to  Fourier,  are  incomplete 
moulds,  partial  and  defective  scales  of  passions;  they  are  con- 
sequently creatures  which  do  not  belong  to  the  chain  of  har- 
monic beings,  and  are  therefore  incapable  of  progressive  de- 
velopment. They  are  to  man,  what  a  few  isolated  and  scattered 
notes  in  music  are  to  the  full  and  complete  scale  of  the  twelve; 
they  remain  in  consequence  stationary,  without  development 
and  without  raising  themselves  above  their  primitive  condi- 
tion. Being  fragments  of  souls  reduced  to  certain  branches 
of  passions,  they  are  out  of  unity  with  the  Divinity,  and  are 
not  admitted  to  the  privilege  of  knowing  God,  of  comprehend- 
ing his  laws  of  universal  harmony,  and  of  participating  in  the 
right  of  immortality.  The  body  of  the  animal  is  equally  be- 
neath that  of  man ;  it  is  an  incomplete  machine,  adapted  to 
the  few  branches  of  passions  which  compose  its  active  prin- 
ciple. The  animal  not  being  in  intellectual  or  material  unity 
with  the  Divinity,  the  use  and  handling  of  Fire,  the  ^reat  dis- 
solvent or  blood  of  the  Universe,  is  interdicted  it. 

As  the  Creator  has  given  animals  but  a  few  incomplete  and 
isolated  passions, — having  created  them  as  the  aids  and  servants 
of  a  higher  being, — man,  he  has  assigned  them  no  hanr.onic  and 
independent  destiny ;  he  has  not  consequently  given  them  mind 
to  comprehend  the  laws  of  universal  Harmony,  ace  rding  to 
which  all  beings  of  harmonic  creation  should  regulate  their 
existence.  But  he  has  distributed  the  passions,  which  he  ha« 
given  animals,  in  such  a  way  as  to  guide  and  direct  I;  "in  right- 
ly ;  whereas  man  with  the  full  scale  of  the  twelve,  is  led  to 


224  THE    PASSIONS. 

perdition,  if  he  do  not  discover  the  law  which  regulates 
them.  Let  us  explain  by  a  simple  illustration,  why  the  Di- 
vinity does  this.  If  a  musician  were  to  put  a  musical  instrument 
in  the  hands  of  a  child,  who  had  no  knowledge  of  the  laws  of 
music,  and  if  he  wished  nevertheless  the  child  should  produce 
no  discords,  he  would  have  to  give  him  an  instrument  with 
only  a  few  cords  or  keys,  and  so  tuned  that  in  whatever  way 
the  child  would  thrum  upon  it,  he  could  produce  nothing  but 
accords.  The  animal  is  in  the  same  situation  with  regard  to 
the  Divinity,  who,  not  having  given  it  mind  and  higher  pas- 
sional combinations,  has  so  distributed  the  few  passions  he  has 
implanted  within  it,  as  to  direct  it  rightly  in  fulfilling  the  re- 
stricted destiny  assigned  it ;  they  in  consequence  do  not  clash 
and  lead  the  animal  astray. 

Man  being  a  full  and  complete  Scale  of  passions,  with  ac- 
cords and  discords, — without  which  higher  harmonies  and  the 
progressive  development  we  spoke  of  are  impossible — possesses 
mind  to  discover  the  law  of  the  Serie,  which  distributes  the 
passional  and  other  harmonies  of  the  universe,  and  to  apply  it 
to  his  social  organization,  which  wouid  guarantee  his  passions 
a  true  and  noble  development.  The  same  elements  of  varied 
and  infinite  harmonies,  composing  the  Soul  lead  on  the  other 
hand,  to  infinite  discord,  if  the  Serial  law  be  not  discovered 
and  applied.  We  cannot  have  high  and  varied  harmonies, 
joined  to  a  vast  development  of  Intelligence,  without  beings 
possessing  integral  scales  of  passions;  but  on  the  other  hand, 
we  have  an  equally  complicated  discord,  if  the  Law  which  re- 
gulates their  development,  be  not  applied  to  them. 


THE    PASSIONS.  225 

Hence  the  vast  importance  of  discovering  the  Passional 
Serie,  the  only  mode  of  action  adapted  to  the  passions.  Ci- 
vilization, in  which  all  these  springs  of  action  are  developed 
falsely,  is  a  reversed  image  of  the  Combined  order,  in  which 
they  would  be  developed  harmonica31y  by  Series.  It  is  our 
false  .social  system,  consequently,  which  produces  the  hor- 
rid conflict  and  disorder,  which  we  at  present  see  around  us. 

The  discovery  of  the  Passional  Serie,  of  the  law  which  regu- 
lates -the  social  Movement,  is  the  leading  feature  of  Fourier's 
labors,  for  it  gave  him  the  key  to  the  other  four  branches  of  Move- 
ment, which  compose  the  system  of  Nature.  He  was  unaided 
in  it  by  any  preceding  suggestions  or  investigations  of  science ; 
it  was  the  achievement  of  a  bold  and  daring  genius,  which 
had  disenthralled  itself  from  the  fetal  prejudice,  that  the  views 
of  the  Deity  were  inscrutable,  and  that  social  -happiness  could 
not  be  realized  on  the  earth.  To  boldness  of  conception,  he 
added  an  indefatigable  and  scrutinizing  analytical  spirit ;  and 
with  forty  years  of  study,  he  worked  out  a  complete  organiza- 
tion of  society,  all  the  details  of  which, — education  of  children, 
organization  of  industry,  internal  distribution  and  arrange- 
ment of  the  Palace  of  the  Phalanx,  etc.,  are  regularly  based 
upon  the  great  Law  of  the  Serie  of  Groups,  and  upon  the  re- 
quirements of  human  nature.  How  extraordinary  that  the 
world  should  not  have  made,  by  instinct  or  accident,  during 
tthirty  centuries  of  scientific  investigation,  this  discovery,  and 
that  it  should  have  left  to  one  individual  the  solution  of  the 
vast  problem  of  HUMAN  DESTINY! 


EXCEPTION,  TRANSITION,  DUALITY  OF   MOVEMENT. 


' 

CHAPTER  SIXTEENTH. 

EXCEPTION,   TRANSITION,    DUALITY   OF   MOVEMENT. 

For  want  of  a  knowledge  of  three  principles,, 
which  exist  in  the  Universe,  men  of  science  have 
missed  the  key  to  the  solution  of  some  fundamental 
problems  of  Movement,  a  knowledge  of  which  would 
have  been  an  important  guide  in  the  investigation  of 
the  system  of  Nature.  These  principles  are : 

1.  Law  of  Exception. 

2.  Theory  of  Transitions. 

3.  Duality  of  Movement  in  the  Universe. 

J 
**  THE  LAW  OF  EXCEPTION  exists  in  the  five  branches 

of  Movement,  and  may  generally  be  estimated  at 
an  eighth  or  a  ninth.  If  we  state,  for  example,  that 
the  civilizees  are  very  miserable,  it  is  to  be  under- 
stood that  seven  eighths  of  them  are  reduced  to  a 
state  of  privation  and  suffering,  and  that  an  eighth  only 
escape  this  general  misery,  and  enjoy  a  lot  worthy 
to  be  envied.*  If  we  add  that  the  happiness  which  this- 

*  Is  it  not  necessary  that  God  should  confer  on  a  few  this  ease 
and  comfort  denied  the  mass,  so  that  we  can  see  rays  of  hap- 
piness among  the  favored  few  I  Without  the  example  of  the 
happiness  of  the  small  number,  the  minds  of  men  would  sink 
into  a  state  of  apathy  and  fatalism,  and  Genius  would  be  with- 
out a  stimulant  to  seek  for  an  issue  from  the  miseries  of  ci- 
vilization. 


EXCEPTION,  TRANSITION,  DUALITY  OF  MOVEMENT. 


227 


small  number  of  civilizees  enjoys,  is  the  more  ob- 
noxious to  the  multitude,  as  the  favorites  of  fortune 
are  often  the  least  worthy  of  her  benefits,  we  will 
find  that  this  assertion  is  also  subject  to  an  Excep- 
tion of  an  eighth  or  a  ninth,  and  that  fortune,  in  one 
case  out  of  eight,  favors  him  who  is  deserving.  This 
ray  of  justice  only  serves  to  prove  the  absence  of 
equity,  as  a  general  rule." 

"The  Exception  is  not  invariably  fixed  at  an 
eighth;  it  varies  from  a  third,  to  a  hundredth  and 
a  thousandth ;  its  most  common  term  is  an  eighth  or  a 
ninth.  To  this  proportion  we  will  habitually  refer." 

Had  this  principle  been  fully  admitted  in  all  scien- 
tific speculations,  and  had  philosophers  elevated  their 
views  to  consider  the  probable  duration  of  the  ex- 
istence of  the  human  race  upon  the  earth, — fixing  it 
by  supposition  at  sixty,  eighty  or  a  hundred  thousand 
years,  they  might  possibly  have  concluded,  that  the 
present  condition  of  mankind  was  merely  an  Excep- 
tion to  their  true  or  general  social  Destiny;  an  ex- 
ception, which  is  to  the  human  race,  what  the  first 
sufferings  of  infancy,  such  as  teething,  are  to  the 
life  of  man.  But  the  few  thousand  years  that  man 
has  been  upon  the  earth,  appear  to  the  scientific  such 
an  eternity,  that  they  cannot  extend  their  thoughts 
beyond  it,  and  they  in  consequence  declare  that  evil 
will  ever  exist;  and  that  experience  proves  it  to  be 
the  eternal  lot  and  destiny  of  mankind. 

THEORY  OF  TRANSITIONS.  There  are  in  Nature  no 
voids,  no  breaks,  no  sudden  springs ;  in  all  her  opera- 

15* 


228    EXCEPTION,  TRANSITION,  DUALITY  OF    MOVEMENT. 

tions  she  observes  successive  gradations  and  regular 
stages  of  development.  Before  the  fruit  comes  the 
blossom,  before  manhood  comes  infancy. 

-«90.  ,        _       . 

Simple  Formula  of  the  Movement  of  a  Sene. 

Ascending  Transition    or  Birth. 

First  Phasis                  or  INFANCY. 

Second  Phasis    ^           or  YOUTH. 

Apogee                            or  MATURITY. 

Third  Phasis                  or  DECLINE. 

Fourth  Phasis                 or  DECRIPITUDE. 

Descending  Transition  or  Death. 

Every  thing  in  the  Universe  is  a  Serie,  subject  to 
this  ascending  and  descending  movement ;  the  life  of 
man,  the  existence  of  the  planet,  the  career  of  our 
solar  system, — all  are  Series  more  or  less  vast,  re- 
gulated by  the  same  law.  The  Universe  is  the  sunn 
of  all  the  Series  ;  and  in  it  one  eternal  formation  and 
dissolution,  one  eternal  composition  and  decomposi- 
tion are  going  on,  which  maintain  equilibrium,  and 
in  which  death,  or  the  dissolution  of  one  Serie,  is  but 
the  birth  or  the  commencement  of  a  new  one.  All 
transitions  are  placed  at  the  Extremes  of  Series,  and 
as  they  are  commencements  and  dissolutions  of  the 
Organic  mechanism  of  those  Series,  (differing  con- 
sequently from  the  regular  course  of  their  existence) 
they  are  short  periods  of  suffering,  because  the  Crea- 
tor, having  connected  happiness,  enjoyment  and  har~ 
monic  destiny  with  the  Organic  period  (which  oc- 
cupies the  seven  eighths  of  space  and  time  (could  not 


EXCEPTION,  TRANSITION,  DUALITY  OF  MOVEMENT.    229 

connect  happiness  with  a  state  of  being,  which  is  the 
opposite  of  it, — could  not  connect  happiness,  for  ex- 
ample, with  death,  which  is  a  transition  from  life, 
and  a  more  or  less  violent  dissolution  of  it. 

Transitions  connect  all  branches  of  Movement, 
and  are  the  universal  ties  or  links  between  Series, 
phases  of  existences,  etc.  They  are  scattered 
throughout  the  whole  order  of  Nature ;  we  see  them 
in  amphibious  animals,  which  are  links  between  fish 
and  quadrupeds, — in  the  polypus,  link  between  the 
animal  and  the  vegetable, — in  the  nervous  system, 
link  between  the  body  and  the  soul, — in  the  quince, 
link  between  the  apple  and  the  pear, — in  the  bat,  link 
between  the  bird  and  the  mouse ;  and  in  birth,  death,  etc. 

The  Transition  being  placed  between  two  orders 
of  creations  or  existences,  participates  in  them  both, 
without  being  either:  as  Nature  is  one  vast  and 
eternal  Serie  of  creations  and  existences,  she  makes 
use  of  transitions  to  connect  them,  and  avoid  sudden 
breaks. 

Transitions  exist  in  the  passions  and  characters, 
as  well  as  in  the  kingdoms  of  Nature  ;  passional 
Transitions  are  very  important  in  social  harmony. 
The  combined  order  will  make  use  of  all  those 
strange  and  eccentric  characters,  so  little  compre- 
hended by  the  possessors  themselves,  and  which  arc 
valueless  or  pernicious  in  civilization. 

A  majority  of  Transitions  are  either  painful  or 
physically  ugly,  as  for  example,™  the  Serie  oflife — 
birth  and  death;  and  in  the  animal  kingdom — the  bat, 


230    EXCEPTION,  TRANSITION,  DUALITY  OF  MOVEMENT. 

the  polypus,  the  orang-outang.  If  it  be  asked  why 
the  Divinity  does  not  do  away  with  evil  entirely,  and 
render  even  Transitions  agreeable,  we  answer,  be- 
cause the  Divinity  sets  bounds  to  the  exercise  of  his 
own  power,  and  because  he  admits  of  nothing  contra- 
dictory in  his  system.  He  cannot  make  two  and  two 
five,  nor  does  he  wish  it.  He  has  given  man,  for 
example,  a  physical  organization,  all  the  organs 
of  which  act  with  perfect  harmony,  producing  an 
equilibrium  called  health,  which  is  a  state  of  phy- 
sical comfort  and  well-being.  But  some  of  those 
organs  may  become  deranged  or  diseased,  and  suf- 
fering ensue, — and  why  I  because  the  natural  and 
true  condition  of  the  organization  is  violated ;  we 
cannot  feel  physical  comfort  in  a  state  of  health,  and 
also  in  a  state  of  disease,  which  is  its  opposite.  But 
health  is  the  general  law,  and  disease  the  Exception; 
the  Exception  is  painful,  because  it  is  a  contradiction 
of  that  law.  With  all  General  laws  the  Divinity  uni- 
versally connects  pleasure  and  happiness.  If  he  has 
given  us  a  body  adapted  to  the  temperature  of  the  at- 
mosphere, and  we  thrust  any  part  of  it  in  fire,  we  must 
suffer,  because  we  cannot  feel  bodily  pleasure  in  two 
such  entirely  contradictory  states.  If  he  has  implanted 
in  the  mother  a  strong  love  for  her  child — necessary 
passion  to  guarantee  the  safety  of  offspring — it  is 
impossible  she  should  feel  delight  in  seeing  it  well 
and  happy,  and  in  seeing  it  suffering  and  dying.  It 
would  be  necessai^  to  reconcile  impossibilities* 
which,  as  we  remarked,  the  Creator  does  not  do. 


EXCEPTION,  TRAffSITIOJT,  DUALITY  OF  MOVEMENT,    231 

Therefore  whenever  the  natural  course  or  law  of  the 
existence  of  sensitive  beings  is  violated,  pain  ensues. 
The  Transition  and  Exception  may  be  considered 
one  and  the  same  thing,  for  if  we  go  to  the  bottom 
of  the  two  laws,  we  find  that  all  Transitions  arc 
merely  Exceptions  in  the  operations  of  Nature.  Had 
a  regular  study  been  made  of  the  system  of  Transi- 
tions, it  would  have  put  science  in  possession  of  an 
important  key  to  the  solution  of  problems,  which  have 
baffled  all  its  efforts.  Applying  it  to  social  questions, 
it  would  have  led  to  the  inquiry  whether  the  career 
of  mankind,  like  that  of  an  individual,  might  not  be 
subject  to  Transitions,  and  whether  the  human  race 
might  not  be  at  present  in  the  first  or  ascending  Transi- 
tion of  their  career ;  for  we  know  that  man  has  not  been 
more  than  about  seventy  centuries  upon  the  globe,  con- 
sequently he  may  be  yet  in  a  state  of  social  infancy* 
and  in  ignorance  of  the  future  Destiny  reserved  him* 

*  After  two  or  three  thousand  years  existence  on  the  earth, 
the  human  race  must,  from  a  spirit  of  progress  and  elevation 
inherent  in  human  nature,  discover  some  system  of  writing, 
or  some  mode  of  perpetuating  records  of  their  acts  or  history. 
In  that  lapse  of  time,  they  can  also  develop  industry  suffioipiit- 
ly  to  leave  in  their  architectural  and  other  constructions,  traces 
of  their  existence.  The  temples  of  India  and  its  records  do 
not  carry  us  back  beyond  four  thousand  years ;  and  its  archi- 
tecture is  undoubtedly  the  oldest  on  the  earth.  Had  the  human 
family  been  twenty  thousand  years  upon  the  globe,  they 
would  beyond  all  doubt  have  left  some  monuments  or  some 
works,  which  would  have  proved  an  antiquity  of  at  leatt  ten 
or  twelve  thousand  years;  but  none  such  exist. 

Cuvior,  after  the  most  diligent  research,  declares  that  no 
fossil  remains  of  man  have  been  found  on  the  earth,  nor  any 
proofs  that  man  has  beea  in  existence  more  than  seventy  cen- 
turies. 


The  social  career  of  mankind  is  a  Serie  with 
its  ascending  transition,  its  growth,  maturity,  de- 
cline and  decending  transition.  A  little  extention  of 
scientific  speculation,  a  little  more  boldness  in  ideas, 
would  have  led  the  scientific  to  suspect  that  the  sa>- 
vage,  patriarchal,  barbarian  and  civilized  societies 
might  be  transitory  social  forms,  (ttie  ascending  Transi- 
tion of  man's  career  on  the  planet,)  consequently 
periods  of  social  suffering  and  misery.  The  possibili- 
ty of  a  higher  social  Destiny  being  reserved  man- 
kind, would  have  been  an  object  of  examination;  and 
human  nature  would  have  been  studied  to  ascertain 
how  far  it  was  compatible  with  it.  The  problem 
once  regularly  kid  down,  the  human  mind  would 
Hot  have  stopped  until  it  was  solved. 

Man,  to  attain  his  destiny,  to  enter  into  a  career 
of  social  Harmony,  must  discover  a  society  perfectly 
adapted  to  his  nature.  The  present  ones  are  no  more 
our  social  destiny  than  suffering  and  disease  are  our 
physical  destiny.  •  Various  avenues  were  open  to  this 
discovery,  but  to  the  shame  of  science,  it  has  misled 
them  all,  arid  has  teft  it  to  be  made  by  a  single  in- 
dividual,— a  proof  that  the  task  was  not  so  difficult. 
Fourier  has  solved  the  problem  of  human  Destiny,  by 
a  calculation  of  Passional  attraction  and  Agricultural 
association,  guided  in  his  researches  by  an  intimate 
conviction  of  the  goodness  of  the  passions,  and  by  a 
true  and  elevated  view  of  the  integrality  and  uni- 
versality of  Providence. 

DUALITY  or  MOVEMENT,  or  Two-fold  mode  of  do- 


EXCEPTION,  TRANSITION,  DUALITY  OF  MOVEMENT.    233 

\ 

velopment  in  the  Universe.  Of  the  three  principles 
we  are  examining,  this  is  the  most  important;  its 
discovery  would  have  shown,  that  all  the  five 
branches  of  Movement  (page  161)  are  subject  to 
a  double  or  compound  mode  of  development, — one 
of  which  is  true,  the  other  false,  one  producing 
Harmonies,  the  other  Duplicities.  That  the  pas- 
sions are  subject  to  a  double  movement  is  evident; 
we  see  them  at  present  in  their  subversive  action, 
perverted  by  the  false  influence  of  society,  produc- 
ing discord,  hatred,  jealousy,  oppression,  injustice 
and  innumerable  varieties  of  vice  and  crime.  That 
they  are  capable  of  a  harmonic  development,  we 
cannot  an  instant  doubt :  we  see  so  many  generous 
and  noble  actions,  that  we  may  safely  conclude, 
could  a  social  system  be  discovered  perfectly  adapted 
to  our  natures,  that  we  would  see  the  present  de- 
gradation of  the  race  give  place  to  a  noble  eleva- 
tion, and  see  the  passions  change  from  being  the 
measure  of  pervertion,  which  they  now  are,  to  be 
the  measure  of  all  that  is  beautiful  and  harmonic. 

The  social  Movement  is  subject  to  this  Duality; 
in  the  societies  which  have  existed  on  the  earth,  we 
see  the  false  development  of  that  Movement,  which 
is  characterized  by  the  miseries  of  the  human  race, 
and  by  the  nine  scourges  enumerated  (page  82) ;  but 
as  the  false  or  subversive  Movement  always  exists  at 
tlte  commencement  or  the  end  of  careers,  we  may  con- 
clude that  a  long  period  of  social  existence  is  still  re- 
served mankind,  which  must  necessarily  differ  from 


234    EXCEPTION,  TRANSITION,  DUALITY  OF  MOVEMENT. 

the  present  subversion.  If  we  possessed  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  Duality  of  Destiny,  we  should  see 
that  the  present  social  incoherence  is  a  positive  proof, 
that  a  career  of  social  harmony  must  of  absolute  ne- 
cessity follow;  whereas  for  want  of  this  knowledge, 
science  has  superficially  concluded,  from  seeing  the 
present  social  subversion,  that  it  will  necessarily 
exist  as  long  as  the  human  race  continue  on  the 
globe. 

Men  of  science  are  led  into  strange  errors  in  their 
views  of  nature  by  their  ignorance  of  the  law  of 
Duality.  They  endeavor  to  reconcile  the  wisdom  of 
the  Divinity  with  such  hideous  creations  as  the  tiger, 
the  hyena,  the  crocodile,  the  shark,  the  snake,  the 
scorpion,  the  spider  and  the  bed-bug ;  they  endeavor 
to  discover  for  what  wise  purpose  they  were  placed 
upon  the  earth.  They  do  not  know  that  Duality  ex- 
tends to  the  kingdoms  of  Nature,  as  well  as  to  every- 
thing else,  and  that,  owing  to  the  deranged  state  of 
•the  aromal  system  at  the  time  of  the  creation  at 
points  on  the  Globe,  particularly  around  the  equator, 
a  large  number  of  germs  of  true  creations  were 
subversively  developed : — for  example,  the  seventeen 
species  of  felines,  the  one  hundred  and  thirty  species 
of  snakes.  So  far  from  seeing  the  wisdom  of  the 
Divinity  shine  forth  in  these  subversive  creations, 
we  should  see  in  them  the  impress  of  a  hideous  du- 
plicity. Man  will  hereafter  purge  these  horrid  crea- 
tions from  off  his  terrestial  residence. 


EXCEPTION,  TRANSITION,  DUALITY  OF  MOVEMENT.     235 

Duality  of  movement  exists  in  the  solar-system, 
where  we  find  comets  revolving  in  eccentric  orbits, 
preparatory  to  becoming  planets  with  log  alar  or 
harmonic  orbits.  "It  exists  also  on  our  planet;  there 
is  duplicity  in  the  frozen  state  of  its  Poles,  and  in 
the  bitumenous  infection  of  its  Oceans;  it  exists  in 
the  human  family,  in  the  white  and  black  races. 
There  is  also  scission  or  duplicity  between  man  and 
the  kingdoms  of  Nature,  for  among  quadrupeds  he 
has  not  more  than  a  twentieth,  which  are  useful  to 
him,  among  birds  hardly  a  hundredth,  and  among 
insects  hardly  a  thousandth."  Thus  duplicity  of 
Movement  is  a  law  in  Nature ;  the  false  or  subversive 
Movement  comprises  an  eighth,  sixteenth,  thirty- 
second  or  less,  of  time,  space  and  things. 

The  three  principles  above  enumerated  are  in- 
timately blended;  and,  considered  as  one  single  Prin- 
ciple, with  a  three-fold  character,  they  enter  into  the 
plans  of  the  Divinity,  and  their  study  and  compre- 
hension would  have  been  an  inestimable  theoretical 
guide  to  science  in  its  higher  speculations  and  in- 
vestigations. As  we  rise  in  the  scale  of  creation, 
the  duration  and  extent  of  the  false  Movement  gradu- 
ally diminishes,  until  it  ceases  in  the  centre  of  uni- 
versal existence  :  the  Divinity  is  eternal  Harmony. 

If  the  reader  will  reflect  attentively  upon  the  little 
we  have  here  said,  and  upon  the  observations  con- 
tained in  the  note  (page  174),  he  will  find  an  ex- 
planation of  the  cause  of  evil.  Before  quitting  this 


236    EXCEPTION,  TRANSITION,  DUALITY  OP  MOVEMENT. 

subject,  however,  we  will  make  a  few  more  observa- 
tions which  may  serve  further  to  elucidate  this  most 
important1  question.  Had  the  Divinity  so  created 
our  passions  that  they  would  not  have  been  subject 
to  subversion,  had  he  restricted  them  consequently 
to  one  single  mode  of  development,  so  that  they 
would  have  directed  us  always  rightly,  he  would 
have  prevented  the  present  temporary  pervertion 
in  the  passional  world,  it  is  true,  but  he  would  have 
had  to  deny  us  the  prerogative  of  free  will  and  in- 
dependent action,  and  to  make  us  mere  creatures  of 
instinct ;  which  would  have  reduced  us  to  the  level  of 
the  beaver,  the  bee,  the  ant.  To  endow  man  with 
free  agency  and  progressive  development,  the  Creator 
consequently  does  not  prevent  a  temporary  subver- 
sion in  the  commencement  of  man's  social  existence, 
but  he  reserves  him  in  turn  a  long  career  of  social 
harmony. 

The  same  is  true  with  regard  to  the  temporary 
suffering  and  misery,  which  we  now  see  connected 
with  the  exercise  of  industry.  The  Creator  has  given 
the  human  race  wants,  which  they  can  only  satisfy 
by  the  cultivation  of  the  earth  and  by  the  exercise  of 
industry  in  general;  he  has  so  organized  them  that 
they  require  edifices  to  protect  them  from  the  ele- 
ments, and  clothes  to  cover  them ;  he  knew  that  of 
necessity  they  must  pass  through  a  period  of  social 
suffering  and  repugnant  labor,  while  they  were  dis- 
covering and  perfecting  implements  of  industry  to 


EXCEPTION,  TRANSITION,  DUALITY  OP  MOVEMENT.     237 

cultivate  the  earth,  build  edifices  and  manufacture 
clothing;  which  period  of  suffering  and  repugnant 
industry  must  continue,  until  they  organize  a  true 
system  of  industrial  Association.  The  Creator,  how- 
ever, intended  Industry  should  open  a  vast  field  to 
human  activity,  should  be  a  means  of  developing 
the  intellect  and  the  passions,  of  perfecting  the 
physical  organization,  and  that  its  exercise  should 
become  a  charm  and  a  delight.  He  has  adapted  to 
this  design  his  creations  in  the  animal,  vegetable  and 
mineral  kingdoms ;  *  he  has  placed  metals  and  marbles 
in  the  earth  suited  in  every  way  to  the  wants  and 
purposes  of  man,  and  he  has  made  grains,  fruits  and 
flowers  to  grow  upon  its  surface,  which  please  the 
senses  by  the  beauty  of  their  forms  and  colors,  by 
the  delicacy  of  their  flavors,  and  the  fragrance  of 
their  perfumes.  He  has  created  every  thing  so  as 
to  aid  man  in  his  function  on  the  earth,  and  to  re- 
ward him  for  its  due  performance ;  but  he  has  left 
him  to  execute  it  by  his  own  strength  and  genius, 
and  has  identified  his  dignity  with  his  independent 
action.  Had  the  Creator  wished  to  spare  the  human 
race  the  first  toil,  which  they  must  necessarily  un- 
dergo, until  they  develop  the  elements  of  Industry, 
and  organize  it  rightly,  he  would  necessarily  have 
had  to  provide  them  with  implements  of  labor,  with 

*  We  must  not  overlook,  however,  the  exception  of  sub- 
versive creations,  the  power  of  destroying  which  is  given  to 
man,  who  can  render  all  nature  harmonic  with  himself. 


238    EXCEPTION,  TRANSITION,  DUALITY  OF  MOVEMENT. 

dwellings  and  even  covering,  inasmuch  as  they  are 
absolute  wants.  Thus,  to  prevent  the  temporary  evil 
which  man  has  to  encounter  in  the  onstart  of  his 
career,  it  would  have  been  necessary  to  surround 
him  with  every  thing  requisite  to  his  wants,  which  in 
turn  would  have  reduced  him  to  inaction,  and  left 
him  an  idle  Tenant  of  the  Globe. 

- 


i  fti 


mr. 


DESTINY   OF   MAN.  239 


' CHAPTER  SEVENTEENTH. 

' 

DESTINY   OP   MAW. 

* 

There  is  not  a  more  energetic  revelation  of  the 
social  deviation  of  man,  not  a  clearer  proof  of  the  sub- 
version in  which  he  is  plunged,  than  the  revolt  of  his 
perverted  and  false  reason  against  his  natural  Attractions, 
against  the  eternal  Harmonies,  towards  which  his  noble 
nature  gravitates.  The  most  striking  and  synthetical  af- 
firmation of  social  evil,  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact,  that 
man  is  sunk  so  deeply  in  evil,  that  he  considers  this  evil 
as  his  element.  It  is  this  fatal  belief  which  has  paralized 
for  so  many  centuries  human  intelligence,  and  has  been 
an  obstacle  to  any  bold  search  for  an  outlet,  which  would 
lead  from  the  present  subversion  to  Harmony. 

Victor  Considerant. 

What  is  the  DESTINY  or  MA\  ?  why  was  he  placed 
upon  the  Earth?  Was  it  to  ravage  and  devastate 
its  surface,  to  render  it  a  scene  of  desolation  and 
misery,  to  degrade  his  own  nature  and  the  creations 
around  him  ?— or  was  it  to  cultivate  and  embellish 
it,  to  develop  its  varied  resources  and  realize  in  his 
passional  or  social  existence  those  Laws  of  order  and 
justice,  which  govern  the  Universe  ? 

The  terrestial  Destiny  of  man  is  TO  OVERSEE 
the  globe,  which  is  a  vast  domain  confided  to  his 
care.  This  important  trust  supposes  a  general  and 
perfect  cultivation  of  its  surface,  the  fertilizing  of  its 
deserts,  the  draining  of  its  swamps  and  morasses, 


DESTINY    OF   MAN. 

the  covering  of  its  mountains  with  forests,  the  re- 
gulating of  its  streams, — in  short,  the  adorning  and 
embellishing  of  it  by  every  means  in  his  strength  and 
intelligence. 

If  man  performs  well  the  noble  task  delegated  to 
him,  he  is  rewarded  for  it  by  the  satisfaction  of  the 
leading  desires  of  his  nature,  by: 
"General  riches, 

T      J-      -J         1    U  •  « 

Individual  happiness,  * 

Reign  of  justice, 

><!    UNITY  OF  ACTION." 

But  if  man  neglects  his  function ;  if  he  degrades 
himself,  and  deranges  the  operations  of  Nature  over 
which  he  presides,  he  is  punished  by : 
"  Relative  poverty, 

Personal  anxiety, 

Reign  of  all  vices, 

!*i    DDPJ.ICITY  OF  ACTION." 

Man  is  the  author  on  this  earth  of  his  own  dignity 
and  prosperity,  as  he  is  of  his  own  degradation  and 
misery.  He  can  perform  his  trust  well,  or  he  can 
neglect  it ;  and  there  is  in  this  vast  sphere,  where 
the  human  race  collecu  ~ely  are  called  to  act,  as  in 
the  narrower  sphere  over  which  the  individual  pre- 
sides, a  reward  proportional  to  the  intelligence  and 
activity  applied. 

*  It  is  evident  that  it  is  only  on  individual  happiness,  that 
general  happiness  can  be  based;  political  economists  give  us 
theories  on  the  riches  .of  nations,  overlooking  the  poverty  and 
privations  of  the  mass,  who  constitute  the  seven  eighths  of 
the  population  of  all  nations. 


DESTINY   OF    HAN.  241 

The  ignorance  of  man  of  his  Destiny,  of  the  link 
which  exists  between  him  and  his  planet,  is  connected 
with  the  poverty  and  suffering,  which  have  been  his 
lot,  and  which  characterize  his  social  infancy.  Men 
of  science,  occupied  exclusively  with  the  history  of 
the  past,  and  seeing  the  continuance  for  so  many 
centuries  oi  social  misery,  have  considered  it  per- 
manent, and  supposed  it  to  be  the  unchangeable 
destiny  of  the  human  race.  They  have  sought  for 
the  cause  of  all  this  evil,  and  from  superficial  ob- 
servation they  have  declared  it  to  be  in  human  nature 
— in  the  passions.  On  them,  in  consequence,  has  been 
heaped  a  monstrous  load  of  obliquy,  and  man  has 
7<>t»'j  forth  from  the  inquest  of  human  science  with 
the  brawi  of  depravity  and  perversity  stamped  upon 
him.  Embarked  upon  this  sea  of  error,  they  declare 
that  man  was  not  made  for  happiness,  that  the  evils 
he  suffers  are  a  consequence  of  his  depraved  nature, 
and  that  no  higher  Destiny  is  reserved  for  him  than 
the  present  mingled  disorder  of  moral  and  physical 
suffering.  To  conciliate  this  monstrous  theory  with 
the  creation  of  the  earth,  and  the  existence  of  mun 
upon  it,  they  assert  that  it  is  a  valley  of  tears,  a  place 
of  probation,  where  he  is  placed  to  expiate  by  suffer- 
ing the  imperfection  of  his  nature. — Life  becomes  a 
ceaseless  combat,  a  mournful  pilgrimage  towards 
eternity. 

This  explication,  so  unsatisfactory  and  repugnant, 
is  contradicted  by  every  act  of  man,  by  every  im- 
pulse of  his  soul  He  seeks  for  happiness  and  enjoy- 

16 


242  DESTINY    Of   MAlf, 

ment  as  a  law  of  his  nature,  as  a  part  of  his  destiny; 
— he  seeks  for  riches  and  the  goods  of  this  earth, 
as  a  right.  Although  disappointed  in  his  pursuit,  and 
oppressed  by  suffering  and  evil,  still  hope  is  not  ex- 
tinct ;  youthful  and  evergreen,  it  encourages  him  in 
his  efforts,  and  instinct  whispers,  that  at  some  future 
day  they  will  be  crowned  with  success. 

If  we  study  the  passions  with  respect,  if  we  inter- 
rogate their  laws  of  action,  we  shall  find  in  them  no 
confirmation  of  the  above  dogma ;  they  ail  tend,  if 
rightly  developed,  to  consciencious  and  harmonic  ac- 
tion. And  let  us  ask,  do  we  find  in  the  Creation 
around  us  any  proof  that  man  was  put  upon  the  earth 
to  mourn  and  sutler?  Do  not  it.-*  ever  varying  riches 
and  beautiful  products,  so  delicately  adapted  to  his 
wants  and  pleasures,  and  which  seem  all  created  for 
him  as  for  a  superior  being,  invite  him  to  enjoy? 
Is  there  not  a  life  and  animation  in  Nature,  in  her 
great  scenes,  most  congenial  to  his  feelings  of  the 
grand  and  beautiful  ? — In  the  soft  tones  of  her  zephyrs, 
in  the  fragrance  of  hier  verdant  valleys,  in  the  mur- 
mur of  her  forests  and  streams,  in  the  low  moan  of 
her  oceans,  and  in  the  thousand  voices  of  her  birds 
and  insects,  is  there  not  a  language,  which  whispers 
to  him,  that  He,  who  created  in  his  love  the  Heavens 
with  their  wonders,  the  Earth  with  its  flowers  and 
its  waters,  and  the  Harmony  of  the  Universe,  made 
not  this  earth  a  valley  of  tears,  nor  placed  him  upon> 
it  a  discordant  note  in  his  Great  Concert  I 


DESTINY    OF    MAN.  243 

It  is  true,  man  is  now  a  discordant  note  in  the 
Universe,  for  while  harmony  is  its  Law,  discord  has 
marked  his  Career.  But  let  us  not  suppose  that  the 
evil  is  in  man  individually,  in  his  passions  or  nature ; 
for  they  were  created  by  the  same  Power  whose 
wisdom  regulates  the  most  infinite,  as  well  as  the 
most  minute  harmonies.  The  evil  is  in  the  collective 
action  of  the  race,  in  the  false  and  heterogeneous  so- 
cial principles,  which  they  have  established. 

A  great  error  has  been  committed  in  viewing  man- 
kind merely  as  so  many  individuals,  separate  from 
one  another,  and  each  with  a  distinct  and  isolated  in- 
terest— the  source  of  discords,  conflicts  of  interest 
and  waste  of  efforts;  instead  of  viewing  them  as  one 
great  family,  associated  in  strength  to  fulfil  the  im- 
portant trust  of  Overseer,  and  to  extend  to  each  in- 
dividual member  the  advantages  in  industry,  art  and 
science,  of  their  united  strength  and  intelligence. 

In  the  distribution  of  the  links  or  harmonies,  which 
compose  the  great  Serie  of  the  Universe — men,  pla- 
nets, suns,  etc. — each  has  its  place  assigned  it,  its  func- 
tion to  perform,  like  wheels  in  a  piece  of  machi- 
nery; and  although  they  are  independent  creations, 
still  they  exercise  an  important  reciprocal  influence 
upon  each  other,  and  are  regulated  by  the  same  law 
of  Harmony.  The  human  race  composed  of  all  the 
individuals  on  the  planet,  form  one  of  these  links, 
and  are  carried  on  in  the  movement  of  th«3  great 
Serie  while  executing  their  part  in  the  concert  of 
Universal  harmony. 

16  • 


244  3ESTINY    OF    MA1T=- 

This  ehain  is  no  where  interrupted;  the  destiny  of 
the  individual  is  closely  connected  with  that  of  the 
race;  the  destiny  of  the  race  with  that  of  the  planet, 
and  the  destiny  of  the  planet  with  that  of  the  solar- 
system. 

Our  solar-system  forms  a  Serie-  complete  within 
itself;  arrived  at  this  height,  we  find  that  it  is  mere- 
ly a  link  in  another  and  higher  Serie,  and  that  it  re- 
volves with  other  systems  around  some  great  central 
sun.  A  knowledge  of  the  laws,  which  regulate  these 
stupendous  harmonies  is  not  shut  out  frern  us,  for 
as  but  ©ne  system  governs-  the  whole,  if  we  discover 
the  laws,  which  regulate  the  harmonies  within  our 
own  sphere,  saeh  as  the  passional,  mathematical,  pla- 
netary, etc.,  we  have  the  key  to  the  Movement  of 
the  Universe. 

If  we  view  the  function  of  our  planet  in  connec- 
tion with  that  of  the  race  upon  it,,  we  may  say  that 
it  is  a  sideral  being,  as  we  are  planetary  beings?  that  it 
has  its  function  to  perform  in  its  high  sphere;  as  we 
have  ours  to  perform  on  its  surface.  It  is  a  link,  as 
we  observed,  in  the  universal  Serie,  whose  millions 
of  luminaries  performing  their  mighty  work,,  are  the 
highest  manifestation  of  the  Divinity  in  his  material 
harmonies. 

Every  planet  requires  a  regulator  on  its  surface, 
who,  by  its  integral  and  universal  cultivation,  by  the 
development  of  its  animal  and  vegetable  life,  and  its 
material  resources,  and  by  the  regulation  of  its  at- 


DESTINY    OF    MAN.  245 

mospheric  system,  exercises  an  important  influence 
-over  its  Aromal  kingdom.  * 

In  concluding  these  abstract  observations,  we  will 
observe,  that  the  Creator  in  requiring  the  performance 
of  a  function  from  a  being,  connects  his  happiness 
with  its  exercise,  and  gives  him  an  attraction  for  it. 
As  industry  is  the  means  by  which  man  accomplishes 
his  trust  of  Overseer,  the  Creator  must  consequently 
have  adapted  his  passions  and  attractions  to  its  oc- 
cupations. 

The  principle  of  the  adaptation  of  attractions  to 
functions,  is  based  upon  the  universal  law  of  Attrac- 
tions proportional  to  Destinies,  a  knowledge  of  which 
is  most  important  in  the  study  of  Nature. — We  will 
•devote  a  few  .lines  to  its  explication. 

The  Creator  distributes  passions  and  attractions  to 
all  his  creatures  in  exact , proportion  to  their  Destiny ; 
he  adapts  their  instincts  and  feelings  to  the  place 
they  are  to  fill  in  the  s<;ale  of  creation,  and  to  the 
life  they  are  to  lead;  he  connects  their  happiness 
with  the  functions  they  are  to  exercise,  and  secures 
the  performance  of  them  without  resort  to  constraint. 
This  brilliant  result  of  his  wisdom,  is  manifest  where- 

*  The  Aromal  kingdom  is,  so  to  say,  the  great  handmaid  «f 
Nature,  her  agent  in  the  execution  of  her  vast  operations,  such 
as  planetary  communications,  revolutions,  etc.  If  the  planet 
be  neglected,  if  rts  surface  Tie  not  thoroughly  cultivated,  if 
deserts  and  swampe  be  left  to  spread  over  it,  sending  forth 
pestilential  exhalations  and  miasmas,  which  poison  the  at- 
mosphere, its  system  of  aromas  is  vitiated  and  deranged.  This 
not  only  extends  to  the  planet  iteelf, — to  the  animal  and  veget- 
able kingdoms,  and  to  the  climate,  but  it  deranges  its  action  in 
its  aromal  communications  tnd  functions  with  other  planet*. 


DESTINY    OF    MAW. 

ever  beings  are  found,  who  live  in  accordance  with 
the  laws  of  their  nature. 

The  justice  of  the  Creator  consists  in  preserving  a 
strict  equilibrium  between  the  Passional  organiza- 
tion of  his  creatures  and  their  Destiny ,-  he  gives  them 
no  useless  passions ;  none  which  they  may  or  cannot 
satisfy,  or  which  are  false  guides.  If  it  were  other- 
wise, they  would  be  in  perpetual  war  with  them- 
selves,— with  their  Destiny;  and  the  confusion  would 
be  such,  that  he  would  have  to  annihilate  his  whole 
creation,  or  resort  to  violence  and  constraint  to  main- 
tain order,  (as  do  our  civilized  moralists  and  legis- 
lators in  the  social  world).  But  constraint  enters  no- 
wise in  his  plans ;  he  rules  the  Universe  by  the  only 
pleasing  power,  that  of  Attraction,  and  while  ho 
secures  Order  and  Harmony  by  the  employment  of 
this  means,  he  secures  at  the  same  time  the  happiness 
of  all  its  members. — Hence  this  universal  law: 

THE    ATTRACTIONS     OF     ALL     BEINGS    ARE     PROPORTIONAL 
TO    THEIR    DESTINY, 

"The  Rein-deer,  for  example,  is  destined  to  live 
in  the  frozen  regions  of  the  North;  God  does  not  give 
him  Attraction  for  the  verdant  fields  and  the  plants 
of  the  temperate  zone;  he  prefers  the  snows  of  the 
North  and  the  moss  which  they  cover ;  his  Attrac- 
tions consequently  are  proportional  to  his  Destiny. 

"  If  we  transport  bees  to  a  desert  island,  covered 
with  barren  rocks  and  sands,  where  not  a  flower 


DBSTINY    OP   MAIT.  247 

grows,  they  will  not  the  less  feel  Attraction  for 
flowers,  for  their  Destiny  is  to  live  upon  their  sweets." 

"  The  Creator  endows  with  intelligence  or  the  fa- 
culty of  reasoning  according  to  the  same  law.  An 
ox  may  be  destined  to  die  in  a  slaughter-house;  God 
does  not  give  him,  as  he  does  to  man,  the  faculty  of 
reasoning  on  death  and  the  various  forms  of  death. 
That  animal  would  be  tormented  during  the  entire 
course  of  his  life  with  the  dread  of  so  sad  a  termina- 
tion. It  is  evident  that  the  Creator  distributes  attrac- 
tions or  passions  with  economy  and  discernment; 
he  gives  to  every  species  those  which  are  necessary, 
ami  which  are  suited  to  the  essential  destiny  of  the 
larger  number ;  by  essential  destiny  is  to  be  under- 
stood the  condition  reserved  to  the  majority  during  the 
seven-eighths  of  their  career.  (The  seven-eighths 
are  to  be  considered  as  the  whole  in  movement,  the 
eighth  of  Exception  only  confirms  the  general  rule.)" 

AH  collective  attractions  and  passions  are  oracles 
of  the  Destiny  assigned  by  the  Creator  to  his  crea- 
tures; they  should  with  man  be  consulted  as  such, 
and  a  true  social  mechanism  deduced  from  them. 

From  our  constantly  assorting  that  the  passions 
are  all  good,  it  may  be  infered  by  some,  that  we  in- 
clude such  subversive  emotions  as  envy,  hatred, 
jealousy,  revenge;  such,  however,  is  not  the  case; 
they  are  the  false  and  perverted  developments  of 
certain  passions,  and  we  should  take  care  not  to  con- 
found such  developments  with  the  trite  passions  them- 
selves. The  passions  may  be  misdirected,  or  sub- 


248  DESTINY    OF  MAN. 

versively  developed,  and  in  either  case  they  produce 
disastrous  results.  Napoleon's  ambition,  directed  to 
war,  deluged  Europe  with  blood.  Had  it  been  di- 
rected differently — to  internal  improvements  for  ex- 
ample— the  same  ardent  passion,  together  with  the 
enthusiasm  he  knew  how  to  communicate  to  his 
enterprises,  would  have  covered  France  and  even 
.Europe  with  mighty  links  of  canals  and  rail-roads, 
or  have  realized  any  other  great  improvements. 
Thus  two  opposite  effects  may  be  produced  by  the 
same  passion,  and  it  is  to  be  remarked  that  the 
stronger  the  passion,  the  greater  the  results,  either 
for  good  or  evil,  which  follow.  The  above  is  an 
example  of  a  passion  misdirected ;  we  will  choose 
one  to  exemplify  a  passion  subversively  developed. 
A  man  may  place  his  affections  in  a  woman,  and 
see  his  happiness  in  a  union  with  her;  the  passion 
love  becomes  in  this  case  one  of  the  principal  charms 
of  his  life;  but  if  some  lago  crosses  his  path,  and  by 
undue  means  thwarts  his  expectations  and  destroys 
his  hopes,  his  passion  changes  its  direction,  changes 
to  hatred  or  jealousy,  and  vents  itself  by  seeking  re- 
venge on  the  being  who  has  wronged  him. 

It  may  be  laid  down  as  a  general  rule  that  any 
passion  which  is  suddenly  arrested,  thwarted  or 
disappointed  in  its  course,  takes  a  subversive  de- 
velopment or  false  direction,  and  turns  to  enmity, 
jealousy,  revenge,  antipathy,  regret,  and  sometimes 
to  despair  and  insanity. 

The  passions  of  men  are  at  present  all  more  or 


DESTINY    OF   MAN. 

less  smothered,  tantalized  or  misdirected ;  and  it  is 
for  that  reason  that  we  find,  not  only  so  many  cri- 
minals, but  descending  to  a  lower  sphere  of  subver- 
sion, so  many  drunken,  quarrelsome,  scolding,  pe- 
tulent,  back-biting  creatuies,  whose  unaccountable 
freaks  can  only  be  understood  by  those  who  pos- 
sess a  knowledge  of  the  two-fold  mode  of  action  of 
the  passions.  The  discordant  and  perverted  play  of 
those  springs  of  action  is  carried  to  a  higher  pitch 
in  civilization  than  in  the  savage  and  barbarian  so- 
cieties, because  its  mechanism  is  more  complicated, 
and  because  there  is  a  broader  development  of  the 
passions  to  be  acted  upon.  But  it  is  certain,  that 
as  great  as  is  the  discord  and  duplicity  which  reign 
in  the  present  state  of  things,  as  great  will  be  the 
harmony  and  unity  in  a  social  system  perfectly 
adapted  to  human  nature. 

The  law  of  Attractions  proportional  to  Destinies, 
is  an  important  proof  in  the  question  of  the  Immor- 
tality of  the  Soul.  The  desire  of  immortality,  it  is 
evident,  is  a  collective  attraction  of  the  human  race ; 
it  is  found  existing  among  all  nations  and  at  all 
epochs.  If  the  Creator  be  just  in  the  distribution  of 
Attractions,  why  would  he  have  given  us  a  desire, 
which  he  did  not  intend  should  be  satisfied?  why 
have  given  us  intelligence  to  comprehend  the  system 
of  the  Universe,  without  the  privilege  of  participating 
in  its  higher  spheres  and  existences?  Had  ho  denied 
us  the  gift  of  immortality,  he  would  have  violated 
his  law  of  economy,  which  extends  to  the  passional 


DESTINY   OF    MAW. 

and  intellectual  world,  and  have  tantalized  uselessly 
one  of  his  creatures.  * 

These  examples  are  sufficient  to  give  us  an  in- 
sight into  this  most  important  Law,  a  knowledge  of 
which  is  an  indispensable  guide  in  the  study  cf  the 
destiny  of  beings.  Great  care,  however,  should  be 
taken  not  to  confound  false,  temporary  and  perverted 
passions  or  attractions  with  those  essential  and  true 
ones,  which  Nature  distributes.  In  the  study  of  man, 
for  example,  we  shall  find  that  society  so  perverts 
his  nature,  that  a  vast  number  of  vitiated  tastes  and 
depraved  attractions  are  developed  within  him.  We 
must  not  commit  the  error  to  suppose,  that  there  is 
a  destiny  proportional  to  those  passional  subversions, 
to  suppose,  for  example,  that  a  man,  who  has  a  love 
for  intoxication,  was  destined  by  Nature  to  be  a 
drunkard;  or  that  some  men  were  destined  to  be 
thieves,  because  there  are  individuals  in  our  societies 

*  Why  should  there  not  be  economy  in  the  passional  or  in- 
tellectual, as  well  as  in  the  material  world?  Why  should 
the  Creator  have  given  us  useless  passions  and  attractions,  any 
more  than  useless  members,  useless  bones  or  muscles?  If  we 
believe  that  there  are  in  man  pernicious  and  hurtful  passions, 
we  indirectly  attribute  to  the  Creator,  whose  work  the  sovl  is, 
want  both  of  thought  and  foresight.  It  is  difficult  to  concive 
how  moralists  and  philosophers  have  not  remarked  the  dilemma 
in  which  they  place  themselves  by  condemning  human  nature. 
How  many  mysteries  will  not  the  law  of  Duality,  or  two- fold 
mode  of  action  of  the  passions,  explain ! 

To  comprehend  the  system  of  Nature,  we  must  change  our 
views  as  to  the  mode  of  action  of  the  Divinity ;  if  his  pro- 
vidence extends  to  the  minutise  of  the  material  world, — to  the 
physical  organization,  for  example,  of  the  smallest  animalculi, 
why  should  it  not  extend  to  the  passions  and  to  the  organiza- 
tion of  society,  which  are  so  much  more  important. 


I 

DESTIWY    OF    MAI*.  251 

who  steal.  An  intelligent  discrimination  is  necessary 
in  separating  true  and  collective  Attractions  from 
accidental  and  deranged  developments  of  passions. 
Those  collective  and  universal  attractions  and  im- 
pulses, which  we  find  existing  at  all  times,  and  com- 
mon to  all  mankind,  are  oracles  of  truth,  are  an 
Index  placed  within  us  by  a  higher  hand,  which 
point  as  unvaryingly  towards  our  destiny,  as  the 
magnet  points  towards  the  pole.  Our  collective  At- 
tractions are  expressions  of  the  Intention  of  the 
Creator,  who  has  given  them  to  us,  and  we  may  there- 
fore say,  that  they  are  a  permanent  revelation  within 
us  of  his  win.  With  the  aid  of  these  observations, 
we  will  define  more  exactly  the  law  we  have  here 
laid  down,  so  as  to  render  it  mathematically  correct: 
The  Essential  Attractions  of  every  Creature  are  pro- 
portional to  its  Essential  Destiny. 

Had  the  Creator  destined  us  to  the  present  social 
system,  he  ought  to  have  given  us  attractions  for  its 
poverty  and  monotony,  which  are  the  unavoidable 
lot  of  the  great  majority,  so  that  we  would  have  found 
our  happiness  in  them.  But  it  is  in  the  revolt  of  the 
passions  against  our  odious  societies,  that  we  find  a 
condemnation  of  those  societies,  and  a  proof  that 
they  are  NOT  the  Social  destiny  of  man. 

If  we  attribute  to  the  passions  the  falseness  and 
duplicity  of  society,  we  must  suppose  that  the  Creator 
has  given  the  human  race  attractions  for  fraud,  op- 
pression, injustice  and  carnage.  In  so  doing  he 
would  have  violated  all  his  laws  of  order  and  har- 


252  DESTINY   OF   MA1C. 

ony,  and  placed  man  a  demoniac  being  in  the  midst 
of  his  creation. 

The  condemnation  of  human  nature  in  order  to 
exculpate  society,  has  been  a  universal  error  of 
science.  It  is  time  it  was  rectified;  man,  the  WORK 
of  the  Divinity,  should  become  the  standard  whereby 
the  social  organization  should  be  judged ;  he  should 
not  be  sacrificed  to,  nor  measured  by  the  measure 
of  our  arbitrary  societies,  the  work  of  accidental 
circurnstanoestand  human  Legislation. 

Every  epoch  believes  its  own  form  of  society  good ; 
and  this  belief  which  is  found  alike  strong  with  the 
Savage,  Barbarian  and  Civilizee,  is  one  of  those  col- 
lective prejudices,  which  mark  the  social  infancy  of 
the  human  race.  It  has  had  the  effect  of  condemn- 
ing all  those  passions,  which  happen  to  conflict  with 
the  laws  of  the  reigning  form  of  society,  as  depraved 
and  vicious.  Constraint  and  repression  have  there- 
fore become  of  necessity  the  controling  or  governing 
power  of  human  societies;  and  we  may  say  that  up 
to  the  present  time  the  whole  social  science  of  man 
has  been  to  combat  against  human  nature  and  the 
passions.  The  result  has  been  to  degrade  man  in 
his  own  eyes,  and  sanction  the  doctrine  of  human 
perversity ;  this  fatal  error,  this  outrage  against  the 
Author  of  the  passions,  has  become  the  broad  prin- 
ciple upon  which  a  series  of  societies  has  been  based, 
whose  deplorable  practical  results,  Indigence,  Fraud, 
Oppression  and  Carnage,  are  faithful  developments 
of  their  false  foundation. 


DESTINY    OF    MAR,  25* 

&    II  '  U<l* 

If  the  Creator  has  assigned  man  the  noble  function 
of  OVERSEER  of  the  planet ;  if  he  has  intrusted  to 
him  the  cultivation  of  its  surface  and  the  develop- 
ment of  all  its  material  resources,  which,  through  the 
Aromal  kingdom,  are  of  such  high  importance  in  sideral 
equilibrium;  and  if  in  addition  he  has  left  to  his  Genius 
the  regulation  of  the  vast  scale  of  Creation,  which 
extends  from  him  down  through  so  many  series  to 
inert  matter; — if  the  Creator  has  done  all  this,  is  it 
not  probable  that  he  has  included  in  his  Providential 
foresight  the  Social  and  Industrial  organization,  upon 
which  the  due  execution  of  all  the  above  named  high 
trusts  so  intimately  depends] 

The  Providence  of  the  Divinity  extends  to  the  social 
as  well  as  to  the  material  world.  He  has  not  given 
us  a  passional  and  physical  organization  out  of  harmo- 
ny with  our  terrestrial  Destiny;  he  has  not  given  us 
passions  as  an  impelling  power,  without  adapting 
them  to  some  wise  end,  and  to  a  system  of  society 
which  would  direct  us  rightly  in  our  trust  of  over- 
seer;— with  the  performance  of  which  he  must,  ac- 
cording to  the  law  of  Attractions  proportional  to 
Destinies,  have  connected  our  happiness. 

Industry,  viewed  in  its  noblest  application,  is  the 
great  means  by  which  ma  i  accomplishes  his  trust 
of  Overseer.  Destined  to  it,  placed  upon  the  earth 
to  exercise  it,  how  can  we  suppose  for  a  moment 
that  the  Creator  has  not  adapted  his  passions,  instincts 


254  DESTINY    OF   MAN. 

and  attractions  to  it,  and  to  its  occupations,  which 
he  knew  would  occupy  so  important  a  portion  of  his 
life.  Can  we  reasonably  suppose,  that  he  intended 
it  should  be  exercised  in  the  present  repugnant, 
monotonous  and  degrading  manner,  a  scourge  to  the 
laboring  populations  of  barbarian  and  civilized  so- 
cieties on  whom  its  burden  falls  1 

"  God  alone  is  invested  with  the  power  of  distribut- 
ing Attraction;  he  wishes  to  guide  the  Universe  and 
his  creatures  only  by  attraction:  and  to  attach  us 
to  Industry,  to  agricultural  and  manufacturing  labor, 
he  has  composed  a  system  of  ATTRACTIVE  INDUSTRY, 
which,  once  organized,  will  give  a  charm  to  our  in- 
dustrial occupations,  and  attach  to  them  enticements 
greater  than  are  those  of  balls  and  theatres  at  pre- 
sent;— in  other  words,  people  in  Association  will 
find  so  much  that  is  pleasing  and  stimulating  in 
their  branches  of  work,  exercised  in  groups,  that  they 
would  not  leave  them  for  amusements,  like  the  above, 
proposed  during  the  hours  of  their  industrial  occupa- 
tions." 

"Up  to  the  present  time  our  political  and  moral 
sciences  have  not  dreamed  of  rendering  Industry 
attractive:  to  enchain  the  mass  to  labor,  they  have 
discovered  no  other  means,  after  slavery,  than  the 
fear  of  want  and  starvation  ;  if,  however,  Industry  is 
the  destiny,  which  is  assigned  to  us  by  the  Creator, 
how  can  we  think  he  would  wish  to  force  us  to  it  by 
violence,  and  that  he  has  not  known  how  to  put  in 


DESTIWY    OF    MAN.  255 

play  some  more  noble  lever,  some  stimulant  capable 
of  transforming  its  occupations  into  pleasures." 

It  must  be  so;  and  let  man  comprehend  that  the 
Providence  of  the  Divinity  extends  to  the  social  and 
passional,  as  well  as  to  the  material  world,  and 
human  intelligence  will  have  made  an  important  pro- 
gress. It  will  stand  upon  a  foundation,  where  it 
can  judge  calmly  the  question  of  a  great  Social 
change — a  question  which  cannot  now  be  judged,  be- 
cause the  minds  of  men  are  obscured  by  a  mass  of 
prejudices,  which  arise  from  their  ignorance  of  the 
true  nature  of  Providence,  of  the  law  of  Duality,  and 
of  Attractions  proportional  to  Destinies.  * 

Man  is  a  compound  being,  possessed  of  passions 
and  attractions,  and  a  complicated  physical  organiza- 

*  "Our  political,  moral  and  philosophical  controversies  have 
promulgated  opinions,  which  violate  all  principles  of  Unity : 
they  have  taught  the  world  to  believe : 

1st.  That  Movement,  the  Universe  and  the  Divinity  are  of 
a  simple  and  not  of  a  compound  nature;  that  they  are  limited 
to  one  mode  of  development,  and  that  Duality  is  excludedfrom 
their  action. 

2d.  That  Providence  is  circumscribed,  partial  and  not  uni- 
versal ;  that  it  does  not  extend  to  the  social  movement,  and  to 
the  regulation  of  our  industrial  system. 

3d.  That  man  is  a  simple  being  excluded  from  unity  with 
the  universe,  which  is  governed  by  Attraction, — excluded  from 
the  advantage  of  being  directed  by  a  social  code,  prccompoeed 
and  adapted  by  the  Divinity  to  his  nature. 

4th.  That  in  the  social  compact,  justice,  and  reciprocal  and 
efficacious  guarantees  cannot  bo  introduced. 

5th.  That  our  passions  are  our  enemies;  which  supposes 
that  God,  who  created  them,  is  also  our  enemy. 

6th.  That  reason  alone  suffices  to  repress  and  direct  the 
passions ;  although  it  cannot  repress  those  of  its  oracles — of 
men  who  are  the  most  celebrated  for  their  reasoning  powers. 

7th.     That  the  reign  of  justice  and  truth  can  only  be  e*- 


256  DESTINY    OF    MAW. 

tion.  These  elements  of  the  human  machine  were  not 
created  at  random,  without  method  and  order,  and 
with  all  the  chances  of  their  being  perpetually  in 
conflict  and  discord  with  each  other.  Suppose  a 
machinist  were  to  construct  a  machine  without  any 
plan,  making  its  wheels  and  springs  without  cal- 
culating their  uses ;  would  we  not  believe  him  crazy? 
How  then  think  that  the  great  Mechanician  of  the 
Universe  has  given  us  those  irresistible  impulses, 
called  passions,  without  calculating  their  effects, — 
without  adapting  them  to  some  socia  lorder,  pre-exist- 
ing in  his  intelligence,  which  would  make  use  of  them 
all,  as  so  many  parts  of  a  perfect  mechanism ! 

It  cannot  be  otherwise :  "  having  the  experience 
of  millions  of  worlds  anteriorly  created, "  he  cal- 
culated with  mathematical  precision  the  action  and 
developments  of  those  passions.  If  they  are  at  pre- 
sent condemned  as  depraved  and  vicious,  it  is  be- 
cause science  has  not  discovered  the  social  order  in- 
tended for  them,  and  has  considered  their  false  de- 
velopment in  our  subversive  societies  as  their  true 
nature. 

It  must  be  acknowledged,  however,  that  science 


tablished  by  self  restraint  and  moral  repression,  and  not  by  a 
search  for  neglected  discoveries. 

X  That  the  means  of  Nature  in  social  Harmony  are  circum- 
scribed to  existing  societies ; — to  the  civilized,  barbarian  and 
the  savage;  and  that  no  others  can  be  organized;  which  im- 
plies that  the  present  false  development  of  the  passions  is  the 
only  one  of  which  they  are  susceptible,  and  that  the  nine  per- 
manent scourges  of  our  subversive  societies  cannot  be  done 
away  with, " 


DESTINY   OF   MAN,  257 

has  committed  a  most  puerile  error  in  expressing  the 
unbounded  admiration,  which^  it  has,  of  the  per- 
fection of  man's  physical  organization,  while  it  has 
condemned  on  the  other  hand  the  passions  and  at- 
tractions— of  which  that  organization  is  the  imple- 
ment merely — as  bad  and  vicious. 

Let  us  draw  a  simile  in  a  sphere  where  experience 
has  set  the  judgment  right.  An  improper  mode  of  liv- 
ing deranges,  as  we  know,  the  functions  of  the  body, 
and,  if  continued  in,  produces  disease  and  even  death. 
Bad  food  and  bad  treatment  may  render  a  child, 
possessed  by  nature  of  a  well-made  frame,  rickety  and  ^ 
otherwise  physicatly  deformed.  Reasoning  from  these 
examples,  it  requires  no  great  effort  of  the  mind  to 
suppose  that  social  relations  falsely  organizedjnay 
misdirect  and  pervert  the  passions  in  their  sphere; 
develop  deceit,  selfishness  and  malice  in  the  place  of 
noble  sentiments.  Such  is  <he  case;  the  passions 
were  not  created  for  our  absurd  societies  ;  they  were 
destined  to  a  different  social  mechanism ;  and  this 
truth -accounts  for  the  universal  duplicity  of  action, 
the  contradiction  in  theory  and  practice,  which  at 
present  cxisU 

From  populations  brought  up  in  poverty,  harassed 
by  anxiety,  oppressed  by  monotonous  drudgery, 
without  education,  without  development  of  their  in- 
tellects, their  entire  lives  one  series  of  cares  and 
vexations — which  is  the  condition  of  the  vast  ma- 
jority of  the  human  race — what  else  can  be  expected, 

17 


258  DESTINY  OF    MAX. 

than  beings  whose  passional  or  moral  nature  is  dis- 
torted and  perverted?  f 

Legislators,  moralists,  philosophers  and  the  rich 
and  great,  freed  from  the  burden  of  our  repugnant 
industry  and  provided  with  the  goods  of  this  earth, 
condemn  human  nature,  because  it  will  not  con- 
form to  their  political  theories  and  institutions,  and 
undergo  without  complaint  the  poverty,  drudgery 
and  privations,  to  which  the  present  state  of  things 
subjects  us.  The  spontaneous  sentiment  of  justice 
and  liberty,  which  kindles  the  most  precious  of  flames 
within  the  human  soul,  has  reacted,  and  for  the 
welfare  of  mankind,  against  those  false  social  theo- 
ries and  institutions ;  which,  had  they  been  submitted 
to,  would  have  condemned  the  human  race  perpetual- 
ly to  the  miseries  of  the  civilized  and  barbarian  pe- 
riods. The  authors  of  those  political  institutions 
have  consequently  sought  to  force  obedience  to 
them  by  moral  persuasions,  and  by  the  more  prac- 
tical means  of  scaffolds  and  prisons. 

Their  object  has  been  to  reform  human  nature — 
how  far  have  they  succeeded  in  their  efforts?  Are 
not  the  men  of  our  civilized  societies  as  perverse  as 
were  those  of  Greece,  RomeorJudea?  Politicians 
and  philosophers — if  the  anathemas  of  five  and  twenty 
centuries  agaist  the  passions,  have  produced  no  prac- 
tical effect,  why  nof suspect  your  own  theories,  and 
the  systems  you  have  pursued  ?  Do  you  know  from 
what  source  the  passions  come  ? — are  you  authorized 
to  pronounce  the  work  of  the  Divinity  BAD? — and 


DESTINY   OF   JUAN  259 

if  so,  is  it  left  to  your  intelligence  to  correct  it?  Have 
you  not  the  experience  of  at  least  forty  centuries  before 
you,  during  which  human  nature  has  remained  the 
same,  fixed  and  unvarying  in  its  action,  while  your  so- 
cial views  and  theories  have  changed  a  thousand 
times?  If  you  still  have  confidence  in  them,  it  is  time 
you  knew,  that  the  revolt  of  the  passions  against  your 
outrageous  societies  is  the  voice  of  truth,  the  voice 
of  the  Divinity  pronouncing  their  condemnation. 

What  an  outrage  against  Nature  and  true  science 
to  discard  without  examination  so  important  an  ele- 
ment of  man,  as  the  passions !  Suppose  mechanicians, 
for  example,  had  refused  to  study  the  properties  of 
steam,  and  had  condemned  it  as  an  ungovernable 
and  dangerous  power,  they  certainly  would  never 
have  discovered  the  steam  engine.  This  is  equally 
true  with  regard  to  the  passions:  so  long  as  human 
science  condemns  them,  declares  them  to  be  deceit- 
ful guides,  to  be  our  enemies,  so  long  will  it  be  un- 
able to  solve  the  problem  of  Social  harmony,  and 
the  Destiny  of  man.  It  is  only  from  a  study  of  the 
passions,  and  from  a  close  examination  of  their  ten- 
dencies taken  collectively,  that  we  can  deduce  the 
system  predestined  for,  and  applicable  to,  them.  This 
study  certainly  is  of  the  most  urgent  necessity,  but 
the  belief  in  the  dogma  that  our  nature  is  radically 
bad,  has  sunk  so  deeply  into  the  minds  of  men,  that  it 
will  require  a  great  effort  to  eradicate  it  and  bring 
them  back  to  a  standard  of  truth. 

It  would  seem,  however,  that  thirty  centuries  of 


260  .  DESTINY   OF   HAW. 

poverty  and  carnage,  of  political  and  administrative 
controversies,  should  have  convinced  men  of  the  im* 
potency  of  human  legislation,  and  led  them  to  set 
aside  their  prejudices  for  a  time  to  seek  for  a  re- 
medy elsewhere  than  in  party  strife  and  legislative 
controversy.  At  any  rate,  as  hnman  legislation  is 
all  based  ton  the  theory  of  the  depravity  of  human 
nature,  its  miserable  practical  results  should  have 
been  atone  sufficient  to  prove  the  falseness  'of  this 
outrageous  doctrine,  insulting  alike  to  the  justice  of 
the  Divinity  and  to  the  dignity  of  man. 

Either  the  passions  are  bad,  or  the  social  mechanism 
is  false ;  for  evil  prevails,  and  to  a  melancholy  ex- 
tent. If  the  former  be  true,  then  there  is  no  hope  of  a 
better  state  of  things;  for  every  means  of  repression 
and  constraint  that  human  ingenuity  could  invent, 
has  been  applied  to  regulate  their  action,  but  alt 
in  vain ;  they  have  remained  unchanged,  and  in  the 
eyes  of  the  moralist,  as  perverse  as  ever.  If,  how- 
ever, the  latter  be  true — that  is,  if  the  social  me- 
chanism be  false — then  there  is  a  chance  of  a  better 
future;  for  our  incoherent  and  absurd  societies  are 
changing  more  or  less  with  every  century.  They 
are  at  the  mercy  of  the  whim  of  a  tyrant,  or  of  a 
revolution  of  the  mass;  they  may  therefore  be  re- 
formed, or  even  done  away  with  entirely. 

It  is  not  the  passions  alone  which  are  falsely  de- 
veloped, if  their  natural  law  is  not  applied  to  them ; 
it  is  so  with  any  other  active  power ;  they  are  forces 


DESTINY   OF    MAN.  261 

which  cannot  be  suppressed  or  annihilated,  but  mere- 
ly directed.  To  do  away  therefore  with  crime,  and 
what  is  termed  moral  depravity,  we  have  not  1o 
change  man's  nature,  create  a  hew  being  or  a  new 
fUrace,  as  is  so  often  asserted ;  we  have  only  to  change 
the  social  organization  and  the  vicious  direction, 
which  the  passions  receive  from  it.  The  great  ques- 
tion therefore, — the  only  one  truly  worthy  of  the 
efforts  of  genius  and  of  a  century  which  pretends  to 
be  enlightened — is  to  plan  the  means  of  a  reform  in 
the  social  edifice. 

Every  consideration  of  justice  and  right  demands 
it ;  our  outrageous  societies  have  worn  out  human 
patience.  Like  the  ever  falling  drop  of  water,  which 
wears  away  the  solid  rock,  so  they,  by  their  daily 
jand  hourly  harassing  action,  have  corroded  the  pas- 
sions until  they  have  become  perverted  to  an  extent 
to  make  moralists  believe  them  inherently  depraved. 
The  noble  being,  man,  has  been  reduced  to  a  level 
with  the  brutes.  Look  at  the  populations  of  China, 
of  India  and  Europe;  look  at  their  missshapen  and  de- 
formed bodies,  their  deadened  intellects,  their  senses 
gross,  their  souls  formed  only  to  selfishness  and  de- 
ceit, and  all  personal  and  social  sympathies  swal- 
lowed up  in  the  anxieties  of  a  material  existence : — 
look  and  say  whether  those  beings  are  men,  or  some 
horrible  deformity  of  God's  noblest  creature ! 

Rousseau  felt  keenly  that  this  degradation  of  human 
nature  was  the  effect  of  some  external  cause,  when 
be  said:  "Those  beings  which  we  see  around  us. 


2C2  DESTINY   OF   MA5T. 

are  not  men ;  there  is  some  pervertion  of  Nature's 
laws,  the  cause  of  which  we  cannot  penetrate." 

There  is  but  little  sympathy  for  poverty  and  mi- 
sery,— none  for  degradation.  The  rulers  of  the  earth 
finding  the  human  race  abased  by  indigence  and 
ignorance,  fit  tools  for  their  purposes,  have  made 
use  of  them  as  instruments  of  carnage,  or  as  machines 
of  labor.  Their  situation  has  excited  no  commisera- 
tion ;  instead  of  endeavoring  to  elevate,  they  have 
striven  to  keep  them  where  they  were,  or, — to  secure 
more  firmly  their  usurped  power — to  degrade  them 
lower  still.  The  evils  they  have  suffered  have  only 
added  contempt  to  injustice,  and  legalized  in  the 
opinion  of  those  rulers,  tyranny  and  oppression.  Such 
has  been  the  history  of  our  race,  and  is  still  the  con- 
dition of  the  vast  majority.  Politicians  and  moralists, 
seeing  the  continuance  for  forty  centuries  of  this  state 
of  suffering  and  degradation,  have  concluded  that 
such  was  the  unavoidable  lot  and  destiny  of  man- 
kind. Instead  of  breaking  down  the  barrier  of  a  fewr 
prejudices,  which  prevented  them  from  comprehend- 
ing that  it  is  solely  to  the  false  organization  of  society, 
that  these  evils  are  to  be  attributed,  they  have  left 
that  organization  as  it  was,  and  devoted  their  efforts 
to  refining  and  systematizing  the  means  of  repress- 
ing the  deranged  action  of  the  passions,  and  the  vice 
and  crime  which  are  constant  attendants  upon  the 
poverty  and  suffering  of  an  oppressed  mas«.  Hund- 
reds of  revolutions,  by  which  a  few  leaders^  have 


DESTINY    OF    MAN.  263 

been  benefited,  have  taken  place  ;  hundreds  of  cri- 
minal codes  and  other  means  of  repression,  by  which 
our  societies  maintain  their  odious  existence,  have 
been  promulgated; — and  has  the  condition  of  the  vast 
majority  of  the  human  family  been  essentially  amel- 
iorated ?  If  we  examine  the  course  of  history,  we 
shall  find  that  the  situation  of  the  lower  strata  of  all 
nations — that  is  of  the  great  mass  on  whom  the 
burden  of  social  evil  falls — has  been  so  replete  with 
misery,  that  it  is  idle  to  inquire  what  countries  have 
been  the  most  Jiappy ; — we  can  only  ask  what  popula- 
tions have  escaped  at  certain  periods  the  greatest 
poverty  and  oppression. 


Man  has  deviated,  widely  deviated  from  his  desti- 
ny ;  he  has  neither  performed  his  trust  of  Overseer, 
nor  has  he  discovered  Association,  which  is  his  so- 
cial destiny.  The  signs  of  this  deviation  are  evident ; 
they  speak  aloud  in  the  neglected  condition  of  the 
earth,  and  in  the  misery  of  the  race  residing  upon  it. 

If  we  cast  a  glance  over  the  Earth's  surface,  we 
find  extensive  deserts  scattered  here  and  there  upon 
it,  like  ulcers  upon  a  human  body.  The  rays  of  a 
tropical  sun  beating  down  eternally  upon  a  vast 
waste  of  heated  sand — like  that,  for  example,  of  Sahara 
— must  necessarily  vitiate  the  atmosphere,  produce 
pestilential  winds,  like  the  deadly  simoom,  and  cause 
terrible  atmospheric  derangements.  The  influence 
of  such  a  desert  extends  far  beyond  its  borders:  its 


264  DESTINY  or 


hot  and  relaxing  wind  parches  vegetable  life,  and 
enervates  man  and  beast.  The  action  of  this  desert 
is  strongly  felt  in  the  southern  parts  of  Spain,  Italy, 
Sicily  and  Greece,  and  its  deleterious  influence  upon 
their  climates  is  gradually  increasing. 

Vast  deserts  also  exist  in  the  interior  of  Asia, 
which  produce  like  effects,  and  which  are  slowly 
annihilating  cultivation  and  industry  in  the  regions 
around  them.  These  great  sores  on  the  earth's  sur- 
face are  gradually  increasing,  and  it  is  ascertained 

from  observation  that  the  desert  of  Gobi  in  Asia  is 

• 

adding  a  few  rods  every  year  to  its  domain.  Since 
historical  times,  several  have  commenced  and  spread 
over  vast  tracts  of  country,  swallowing  up  some  of 
the  most  beautiful  regions  of  antiquity  :  that  in  which 
Babylon  was  situated,  once  the  most  fertile  and  high- 
ly cultivated  portion  of  Asia,  is  now  a  dreary  waste 
of  sand,  without  a  tiee  or  a  pJot  of  verdure  to  break 
this  death  of  Nature.  While  these  wastes  aye  in- 
creasing on  two  vast  continents,  none  have  been  re- 
claimed and  fertilized.  Is  there  not  something  start- 
ling in  this  fact,  and  if  there  were  an  exchange 
of  intellectual  views  of  a  high  order  between  Nations, 
(particularly  between  those  of  Europe,  the  climate. 
of  which  is  attacked,  South  by  the  deserts  of  Africa. 
Easti>y  those  of  Asia,)  would  they  remain  indifferent 
to  this  most  gigantic  of  evils  in  the  material  order  ?  * 

*  The  following  appeared  in  the  Boston  Daily  Advertiser  in 

May  1839  ;  it  shows  how  a  desert  may  commence  and  spread  : 

"  Drifting  Sand.  —  A  town  meeting  is  notified  to  be  held  in 


DESTINV    OF    HAFT. 


265 


Besides  the  deserts  on  the  earth's  surface,  we  find 
extensive  swamps  and  marshes,  the  receptacles  of 
stagnant  and  putrid  waters,  which,  drying  up  dur- 
ing a  portion  of  the  season,  expose  masses  of  veget- 
able matter  to  the.  heat  of  the  sun,  and  exhale  mias- 
mas and  poisonous  vapors,  By  neglecting  a  proper 
cultivation  of  the  soil,  man  leaves  around  him  these 
generators  of  disease,  which  infect  the  atmosphere 
he  breathes,  and  visit  him  with  epidemics  of  various 
kinds,  with  plague,  cholera,  yellow  and  typhus  fevers, 
agues,  etc.  The  cholera  of  India,  for  example,  was 
generated  over  twenty  years  since  by  miasmatic  ex- 
halations. This  pestilence,  after  travelling  eastward 
to  China,  turned  its  course  westward,  and  has  since 
visited  almost  every  region  of  the  inhabited  globe. 
Is  not  this  a  conclusive  proof  that  every  part  of  the 
earth  is  interested  in  an  integral  cultivation  of  its 
entire  surface? 


Yarmouth,  Barnstable  county,  to  authorize  the  raising1  of  $500 
for  the  purpose  of  stopping  the  sand  near  White's  Brook.  It 
appears  from  an  article  in  the  Yarmouth  Register,  that  there 'are 
several  extensive  wastes  in  that  county,  which  have  extended 
in  course  of  years  over  large  tracts  of  valuable  land.  In  the 
present  case,  the  injury  might  have  been  prevented  20  years 
ago  at  a  small  cost,  but  it  v/ill  now  require  a  large  expenditure 
to  prevent  a  considerable  extent  of  valuable  tillage  land  being 
ruined.  The  sand  travels  to  the  westward  only,  the  easterly 
winds  being  usually  attended  with  so  much  moisture  as  to  pre- 
vent the  driving  ot  the  sand.  Westerly  winds  are  usually  at- 
tended by  dry  weather.  The  sand  blows  into  hills  like  large 
snow  drifts — sometimes  covers,  and  sometimes  undermines 
fences ; — apple  trees  of  good  size  have  been  covered  by  these 
drifts,  and  the  herbage  in  the  neighboring  fields  is  destroyed, 
for  a  wide  extent 


266  •  DESTINY    OF   MAN. 

Man  has  neglected  and  degraded  his  terrestrial 
abode;  he  has  left  upon  it  these  sources  of  atmospheric 
perturbations  and  diseases,  and  drawn  upon  himself 
two  of  the  scourges  before  mentioned: 

Deterioration  and  Derangement  of  Climate. 

Diseases  artificially  produced. 
There  are  other  causes  connected  with  them,  how- 
ever, which  should  not  be  overlooked.  The  uncul- 
tivated state  of  the  earth  towards  the  North  pole, 
produces  an  excess  of  cold  much  beyond  what  is  in 
the  natural  order  of  things,  causing  those  vast  ac- 
cumulations of  ice,  which  have  allowed  the  polar 
regions  to  extend  their  frigid  domain  far  south  of 
their  natural  limits.  On  the  other  hand  the  vast  de- 
serts near  the  equator,  and  the  absence  of  forests 
and  refreshing  streams,  create  an  unnatural  degree 
of  heat.  It  is  evident  that  these  excesses,  acting  to- 
gether on  the  atmosphere,  must  derange  the  system 
of  winds,  and  cause  the  greatest  fluctuations  and 
irregularities  of  climate. 

It  is  also  easy  to  conceive  that  the  warm  winds  of 
the  tropics,  succeeded  by  the  cold  blasts  of  the  icy 
regions  of  the  north,  causing  continual  and  excessive 
variations  of  temperature,  must  increase  fearfully  in 
the  form  of  colds,  consumptions,  pleurisy  and  rheu- 
matisms, the  list  of  Diseases  artificially  produced. 

These  observations  are  sufficient  to  show  that  man 

has  deviated  from  his  destiny  as  Overseer,   and  that 

*  he  has  neglected  entirely  a  wise,  well  combined  and 


DESTINY    OF    MAN.  267 

general  cultivation  of  his  globe.  Both  civilized  and 
barbarian  nations  have  ravaged  it  ignorantly,  and 
have  only  succeded  in  bringing  a  few  points  on  it — 
China,  parts  of  India,  Europe  and  a  very  small  por- 
tion of  America — under  cultivation.  The  deviation 
of  man  from  his  social  destiny,  we  have  endeavoured 
to  prove  in  our  criticisms  throughout  the  work.  We 
wiH  close  our  remarks  with  a  Table  of  the  leading 
characters  of  this  double  Deviation. 

DEVIATION  OF  MAN   FROM  HIS  INDUSTRIAL  DESTINY. 

Neglected   and  uncultivated    stale    of  the   Earth's 

surface. 

Bleak  and  barren  ranges  of  mountains. 
Extensive  Deserts  and  Morasses. 
Pestilential  winds,  exhalations  and  miasmas. 

Derangement  of  climate,    and  of  the  atmospheric 

system. 

Tornadoes,  hurricanes,  excesses  of  heat  and  cold. 
Excessive  increase  of  the  Polar  ices. 

DEVIATION    OF    MAN    RFOM    HIS    SOCIAL  DESTINY. 

Repugnant  Industry, — scanty  product. 

Poor  food,  raiment  and  tenements. 

Anxiety  and  privations,  unhealthy  and  monotonous 

labor. 
Conflicts  of  pecuniary  and  individual  interests,  and 

wars  of  Nations. 
Degradation  of  man  by  Poverty  and  Indigence. 


268 


DESTINY    OF    MAN- 


Absence  of  intellectual  and  passional  development ; 
predominance  of  all  prejudices. 

Absence  of  corporal  or  physical  development:  en- 
feebled bodies,  particularly  of  women. 

Hereditary  diseases,  and  diseases  artificially  pro- 
duced. 

Attractions  and  instincts  smothered  and  perverted. 
Moroseness,    melancholy,  •  disbelief  in   Providence, 
Insanity. 


'. 


' 


i   Y'i  »!/;• 


THE    SAVAGE,    PATRIARCHAL,    CtC.  269 


CHAPTER  EIGHTEENTH. 

THE  SAVAGE,    PATRIARCHAL  AND  BARBARIAJf  SOCIETIES, 

Four  societies  have  existed  on  the  earth,  the  Savage,  Pa- 
triarchal, Barbarian  and  Civilized.  Under  these  general  heads 
may  be  classed  the  various  social  forms,  through  which  man 
has  progressed  up  to  the  present  day.  If  four  have  existed, 
may  not  afflh  or  even  a  sixth  be  discovered  and  organized? 
Common  sense  would  dictate  that  there  could,  although  the 
world  hitherto  has  entertained  a  different  opinion. 

In  our  efforts  to  prove  the  possibility  of  a  reform  in  the  so- 
cial organization,  no  preliminary  is  more  important  than  that 
of  doing  away  with  the  almost  universally  entertained  opinion, 
that  society  cannot  be  changed.  It  is  a  prejudice  which  rises 
up  at  every  moment,  and  in  the  mind  of  every  individual ;  it 
repels  investigation  and  all  unprejudiced  discussion  of  this  im- 
portant problem.  To  combat  with  a  chance  of  success  this 
deeply  rooted  prepossession,  let  us  enter  into  an  examination 
of  the  four  periods  above  mentioned,  and  by  a  study  of  their 
mechanisms,  particularly  that  of  civilization,  judge  whether 
other  social  principles — perhaps  more  just  and  equitable  in 
their  action — can  be  established.  We  will  commence  with 
the  firet  society  in  order: 


270 


THE    SAVAGE. 


The  leading  characteristic  of  the  savage  state  is  its  refusal 
or  avoidance  of  industry.  The  liberty  of  the  savage,  although 
greater  than  that  of  the  civilized  laborer,  who  is  forced  to  toil 
in  our  lonesome  fields  and  confined  manufactories,  is  never- 
theless valueless  in  a  social  point  of  view,  as  it  only  exists  in  the 
absence  of  industry,  which  is  one  of  the  essential  Destinies  of 
man,  and  a  fundamental  element  in  the  higher  liberty  which 
he  is  to  attain  in  Association. 

So  simple  is  the  organization  of  this  period,  that  it  can 
scarcely  be  called  a  society.  To  the  horde  belong  in  common 
fields,  forests  and  streams.  Hunting  and  fishing  form  the 
two  sources  from  which  it  draws  its  subsistence,  and  each 
of  its  members  takes  as  a  right  the  spontaneous  productions 
of  Nature,  wherever  he  finds  them. 

As  man  in  this  state  does  not  fertilize  the  earth  by  his  toil, 
individual  property  in  the  soil  does  not  exist ;  as  industry  does 
not  yield  its  varied  products,  no  exchanges  of  course  can  take 
place,  and  commerce  and  its  attendant  branches  of  industry 
remain  undeveloped.  As  the  horde  acts  in  concert  and  is 
constantly  together,  very  few  acts  of  injustice  are  committed 
by  individuals  against  each  other.  As  the  labor  of  the  mass 
is  not  directed  to  the  production  of  riches,  the  chiefs  or  rulers 
find  no  inducement,  as  they  do  in  the  civilized  and  barbarian 
periods,  to  resort  to  violence,  either  by  the  sword  or  taxa- 
tion, to  possess  themselves  of  the  product  of  their  toil.  It  is 
easy  to  conceive  that  with  such  extreme  simplicity  in  social 
elements,  the  criminal  codes,  the  courts  of  justice  and  the 


AND    BARBARIAN    SOCIETIES.  271 

jails  of  civilization — so  necessary  to  the  maintenance  of  order 
at  present — are  useless. 

The  Indian  enjoys  personal  and  corporal  liberty,  or  the 
right  of  disposing  of  his  time  anJ  person,  to  the  fullest  extent ; 
he  takes  a  part  proportional  to  his  strength  and  skill  in  all  the 
undertakings  of  the  horde,  and  has  a  voice  in  all  its  decisions. 
Some  authors  have  admired  this  state  as  the  happiest  of  social 
conditions.  This  society,  however,  can  only  exist  with  a  thin 
population  ;  it  is  dissolved  with  its  increase.  Man  must  there- 
fore move  onward,  even  if  it  be  through  political  and  in- 
dustrial servitude,  and  the  repugnant  labor  of  the  next  higher 
periods. 

In  truth,  however,  this  simplicity  of  the  social  organization, 
with  its  glimmerings  of  personal  liberty,  is  not  to  be  admired  ; 
man  without  industry  is  a  degraded  being;  his  energies  are 
undeveloped ;  his  mind  is  stupidly  indolent ;  all  his  higher 
powers  of  activity  slumber ;  he  comprehends  nothing  of  the 
great  Universe  of  which  he  forms  a  link,  and  a  knowledge  of 
which  is  necessary  to  elevate  him  in  the  scale  of  intellectual 
existence.  The  continual  and  petty  warfare  of  rival  hordes, 
their  ferocity  and  treacherous  revenge,  the  degraded  condition 
of  women  and  the  abandonment  of  the  weak  and  infirm,  are 
moreover  chararters  of  a  society,  which  is  far  from  being  the 
social  Destiny  of  man. 

THK    PATRIARCHAL. 

This  society,  circumscribed  to  a  very  few  countries,  like 
Palestine,  Circassia,  etc  ,  is  without  importance  or  influence. 


272  THE   SAVAGE,    PATRIARCHAL 

The  first  step,  however,  in  social  progress,  takes  place  in 
this  period:  Industry  begins  to  be  developed;  flocks  are 
reared ;  a  few  branches  of  manufactures  are  undertaken,  and 
some  other  of  the  elements  of  society  are  called  into  existence, 
Man  becomes  attached  to  the  soil,  and  commences  its  cultiva- 
tion ;  he  looks  to  his  own  industry  for  subsistence,  and  does 
not  trust  to  the  precarious  mode  of  existence  of  the  savage, — 
to  hunting  and  fishing.  ^ 

Some  authors,  for  want  of  practical  knowledge  of  this 
society,  have  praised  it  for  its  simplicity  and  its  virtues.  With 
less  ferocity  than  the  savage  state,  but  with  more  perfidious- 
ness  and  petty  tyranny,  it  is  on  a  small  scale  as  oppressive 
and  as  false  a  society  as  either  of  the  three  others. 

"  It  could  be  proved  beyond  denial,  observes  a  celebrated 
author,  that  all  the  abuses  of  governments  are  but  imitations 
on  an  extended  scale  of  those  of  the  DOMESTIC  SYSTEM,  of  that 
government,  which,  under  the  name  of  Patriarchal,  super- 
ficial minds  extol  without  having  analyzed." 

"  Facts  without  number  show  that  with  a  population  in  their 
infancy, — in  a  savage  and  barbarian  state,  the  father,  or  the 
head  of  the  family  is  a  cruel  and  insolent  despot.  His  wife  is 
his  slave,  his  children  are  his  servants.  While  this  king  sleeps 
or  smokes  his  pipe,  his  wife  and  his  daughters  perform  all  the 
household  work,  and  even  that  of  the  fields,  as  far  as  it  is 
pursued  in  this  society.  The  boys  on  growing  up,  ill-treat 
and  abuse  them,  and  are  waited  upon  in  turn  like  their 
fathers." 


AWD    BARBARIAN    SOCIETY.  273 

THE    BARBARIAN. 

A  rapid  stride  in  social  progress  characterizes  the  third  or 
Barbarian  period.  Industry  receives  an  important  and  in  some 
respects  a  brillant  development;  agriculture  and  manufactures 
become  the  occupations  of  the  mass,  and  tlie  arts  and  sciences  are 
called  into  existence.  Man  commences  in  the  outward  or  ma- 
terial world  a  manifestation  of  his  higher  faculties,  and  stamps 
upon  Nature  the  impress  of  his  intelligence.  We  have  only  to 
examine  the  perfection  to  which  Art  and  Industry  were  carried 
under  the  Caliphs  of  Bagdad  and  the  Moors  in  Spain,  to  com- 
prehend how  immensely  superior  in  developments  is  this  So- 
ciety to  the  Savage  and  Patriarchal,  and  how  closely  allied  it 
is  to  Civilization.  This  Period  must  consequently  be  con- 
sidered as  an  important  social  progress,  although  accomplished 
at  the  expense  of  the  liberty  of  the  mass,  and  accompanied  by 
the  most  oppressive  tyranny, — the  corporal  slavery  of  the  pro- 
ducing classes. 

War,  the  main  occupation  of  Savage  hordes,  still  remains 
the  leading  one  of  Barbarian  rulers.  The  necessity  of  defence 
against  the  attacks  of  neighboring  powers,  or  the  enticement  to 
invasions  for  the  purpose  of  conquest  or  plunder,  concentrates 
all  political  authority  and  power  in  the  Sword.  War  in  this 
period  is  the  all  absorbing  object  of  human  activity.  Military 
despotism  wielded  by  a  single  chief,  who  sways  alone  the  des- 
tinies of  millions,  replaces  the  patriarchal  and  individual  tyranny 
of  the  second  period,  and  the  combined  action  of  the  Savage 
horde. 

In  the  subversive  industrial  societies,  that  is,  in  civilization 
and  barbarianism,  labor  being  repugnant  and  oppressive,  each 

18 


274          THE  SAVAGE,  PATRIARCHAL 

individual  endeavors  to  obtain  by  fraud  or  indirect  means  the  pro- 
ducts of  the  industry  of  others,  so  as  to  avoid  the  task  of  producing 
them  himself.  The  barbarian  ruler  finds  that  the  power  used  to 
repel  a  foreign  foe,  is  equally  efficacious  in  forcing  the  mul- 
titude to  labor,  and  in  wresting  from  them  the  product  of  their 
toil.  The  same  result  takes  place  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  in 
Civilization,  but  by  means  so  complicated,  and  by  a  system  so 
intricate,  that  it  escapes  the  attention  of  the  mass.  In  a  vast 
number  of  fraudulent  banking,  commercial  and  speculative 
operations,  which  are  now  more  than  ever  the  order  of  the  day, 
and  which  occupy  an  army  of  scheming,  unproductive  agents, 
who  may  be  termed  the  bloodsuckers  of  productive  industry, 
what  else  is  to  be  seen  than  a  confused  system  of  tolerated 
fraud  and  intermediate  rapine  ? 

The  injustice  of  the  Barbarian  system  is  revolting,  because  it 
is  open,  direct  and  based  upon  brutal  force : — the  injustice  of 
Civilization  is  glossed  over  by  an  appearance  of  equity  and 
justice;  but  the  same  enormous  injustice  characterizes  both 
societies.  The  producing  multitude  toil  and  drudge  to  create 
the  means  of  sustaining  in  ease  and  idleness  a  favored  minority. 

"The  pivotal  character  of  the  Barbarian  mechanism,  observes 
Fourier — the  character  which  distinguishes  it  from  Civilization, 
is  Simplism  of  Action ;  the  action  of  the  civilized  system  being 
always  compound.  A  Pacha  levies  a  tax  because  it  pleases 
him  to  extort  and  pillage ;  he  does  not  search  in  the  constitu- 
tions of  Greece  and  Rome  for  theories  of  right  and  duty :  he 
merely  informs  you,  that  if  you  do  not  pay,  you  will  lose  your 
head.  The  Pacha  employs  consequently  but  one  single  means : 
violence  or  simple  action. 


AND    BARBARIAN    SOCIETIES.  275 

"A  civilized  monarch  makes  use  of  a  double  means;  first  of 
bailiffs,  fines  and  prisons,  which  are  the  true  supports  of  ci- 
vilized laws ;  to  them  are  added  moral  subtilities  on  the  sacred 
duty  of  paying  taxes  for  the  maintenance  of  the  constitution, 
and  the  enjoyment  of  our  imprescriptible  rights.  They  are 
levied,  because  the  representatives  of  the  people  have  voted 
them ;  it  is  consequently  the  people  themselves,  who  wish  to 
pay.  The  mode  of  operation  is  here  double ;  it  is  based  upon 
two  heterogenous  measures, — violence  and  moral  duty.  In  the 
barbarian  system  the  mode  of  operation  is  simple,  being  based 
upon  violence  alone.  This  fundamental  difference  is  found  in 
all  the  operations  of  the  two  societies ;  both  arrive  at  the  same 
result ;  but  civilization  adds  cunning  to  violence. 

We  will  enumerate  a  few  of  the  permanent  characters  of  the 
barbarian  period,  which  contrast  with  those  of  civilization. 
"1.  Stationary  spirit.         5.  Real  dignity  of  man. 

2.  Fatalism.  6.  Frank  action  of  the  passions. 

3.  Prompt  justice.  7.  Amalgamated  Theocracy. 

4.  Simple  monopoly.       8.  Faith  in  Immortality. 

Pivot,  SIMPLE  ACTION.  Transition,  DIRECTION  BY  INSTINCT." 
"  How  has  it  happened  that  men  of  science  have  given  us  no 
analysis  of  the  three  societies,  which  precede  Civilization,  and 
which  embrace  so  large  a  majority  of  the  human  race  1  Had  they 
made  such  an  analysis,  it  would  have  shown  the  turpitude, 
hypocrisy  and  perversity  of  civilization,  characters,  which, 
though  more  disguised  than  in  the  anterior  social  periods,  are 
not  the  less  real." 

"Another  leading  character  of  Barbarianism  is  the  enslaved 
condition  of  women.     If  Barbarians  were  to  give  women  their 

18* 


276  THE   SAVAGE,   PATRIARCHAL,  ETC. 

liberty,  throw  open  their  seraglios  and  adopt  our  system  of  ex- 
elusive  marriage,  they  would  become  civilized  by  this  single 
innovation.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  civilizees  were  to  adopt 
the  sale  of  women,  their  seclusion  in  seraglios,  they  would  in 
turn  become  barbarians." 

A  study  of  the  characters,  which  civilization  has  borrowed 
from  the  three  other  societies,  such,  for  example,  as  the 

,.   Military  code, from  the  Barbarian, 

Birth  right, from  the  Patriarchal, 

Abandonment  of  the  weak  and  feeble,  from  the  Savage, 
would  have  been  important,  as  it  would  have  led  the  scientific 
world  to  perceive  that  all  four  systems  are  links  in  a  serie.  of 
subversive  societies,  all  of  which  are  deviations  of  man  frosa 
his  social  Destiny. 


CIVILIZATION.  277 


CHAPTER  NINETEENTH. 

CIVILIZATION. 
§1- 

In  this  society  man  accomplishes  the  task  of  his  social  in- 
fancy,— the  development  of  the  elements  of  Industry,  Art  and 
Science,  which  are  necessary  to  the  founding  of  Association. 
Their  partial  development  takes  place  in  the  Barbarian  society ; 
and  not  only  without  the  protection  and  encouragement  of  the 
political  power,  but  in  spite  of  the  fluctuations  and  embarass- 
ments  caused  by  the  wars  in  which  that  period  is  constantly 
engaged.  Although  this  state  of  things  continues  more  or  less 
during  the  first  ages  of  civilization,  still  civilization  is  the  true 
nurse  of  Industry.  The  two  or  three  past  centuries,  and  parti- 
cularly the  present  one,  have  wonderfully  developed  it,  as  well 
as  the  positive  sciences,  and  given  all  a  rank  which  they 
never  before  held.  Agriculture  has  been  improved  by  a  more 
scientific  mode  of  cultivation,  and  by  the  introduction  of  more 
perfect  implements;  manufactures  have  received  an  immense 
extension;  new  branches  have  been  discovered,  and  the  genius 
of  man  has  been  actively  engaged  in  the  invention  of  machine 
ry,  which,  next  to  the  spontaneous  productiveness  of  the  soil, 
is  the  greatest  source  of  riches. 

Experimental  chemistry,  one  of  the  most  important  conquests 
of  human  intelligence,  has  also  been  called  into  existence,  and  is 


278  .  CIVILIZATION. 

now  ready  to  assume  its  high  rank  as  the  intellectual  assistant 
of  Industry.  But  with  the  present  system  of  incoherent  action 
and  free  competition,  this  noble  science  is  often  made  the  mere 
instrument  of  industrial  and  commercial  fraud ;  for  with  the  im- 
provements in  chemistry,  there  has  been  a  corresponding  refine- 
ment in  adulteration  and  deception  in  manufactures.  This 
proves  that  civilization,  which  opposes  no  counterpoises  to 
individual  cupidity,  turns  the  best  of  things  to  the  worst  of  pur- 
poses. A  second  important  achievement  of  the  present  age  is 
the  successful  use  and  application  of  Steam.  It  is  an  agent 
which  has  given  man  a  new  and  mighty  power,  and  which  has 
become  of  the  highest  importance  in  navigation,  manufactures 
and  internal  communications. 

To  comprehend  fully  the  progress  which  has  been  made,  we 
must  embrace  at  one  view  the  two  extremes;  we  must  view 
man  in  the  savage  state,  destitute  upon  the  earth,  without  hav- 
ing taken  one  step  towards  its  cultivation  and  improvement,  or 
towards  the  development  of  industry;  and  then  view  him  in 
the  most  advanced  civilized  nations,  view  the  wonders  in  art 
and  industry  with  which  he  has  surrounded  himself,  and  we 
shall  feel  that  an  immense  conquest  has  been  made,  and  that  a 
great  preparatory  labor  has  been  accomplished. 

In  the  first  ages  of  civilization,  war  is  the  leading  occupation 
of  society;  in  later  ages,  commerce  and  industry  take  its  place. 
In  the  first  period  the  soil  is  held  by  military  chieftans  and 
feudal  barons,  and  the  laboring  multitude  are  their  slaves  or 
serfs.  Renown  belongs  to  military  exploits;  honors  and 
rewards  to  military  services ;  history  is  a  mere  recital  of  violence 
and  oppression,  of  conquests  and  invasions.  During  this  social 


CIVILIZATION.  279 

chaos,  industry  receives  a  slow  and  gradual  development,  which 
is  owing  almost  entirely  to  individual  effort.  It  struggles  against 
the  oppression  of  the  military  power,  and  attains  by  slow  de- 
grees a  permanent  existence,  and  an  influence  in  society.  Its 
products  become  so  important  to  the  man  of  war  himself,  both 
as  respects  his  enterprizes  and  comforts,  that  he  is  forced  gra- 
dually to  respect  it.  The  industrial  or  laboring  classes  increase 
in  strength  and  intelligence,  until  they  finally  assume  a  posi- 
tion which  enables  them  to  demand  and  force  a  concession  of 
their  rights.  A  social  transformation  then  commences,  which 
progresses  until  society  completely  changes  its  character,  and 
becomes  entirely  commercial  and  industrial  in  its  spirit. 

If  we  pass  rapidly  over  the  period,  during  which  this  trans- 
formation takes  place — bearing  in  mind  how  exclusively  war 
and  its  interests  once  absorbed  the  attention  of  men — and  then 
examine  the  present,  in  which  commerce  and  its  interests  are 
the  all  pervading  objects  of  attention,  we  shall  be  struck  with 
the  extent  of  the  change.  The  aristocracy  of  birth  has  given 
place  to  the  aristocracy  of  wealth,  and  become  a  mere  shadow 
in  those  countries  where  it  has  lost  its  possessions.  The  feudal 
baron  with  his  dependants,  who  owe  him  allegiance,  is  re- 
placed by  the  banker  or  capitalist,  who  is  surrounded  with  a 
train  equally  dependent  and  servile. 

If  the  pride  and  the  power  of  the  baron  were  in  his  birth,  his 
titles  and  armorial  bearings;  the  pride  and  the  power  of  the 
man  of  our  day  are  in  his  wealth  and  financial  influence.  If 
the  skill  of  the  former  shone  forth  in  military  exploits,  the  skill 
of  the  latter  is  displayed  in  commercial  and  financial  operations. 
Thus,  the  spirit  of  society,  aa  we  observed,  has  changed  from 


280  CIVILISATION-. 

the  military  to  the  purely  commercial  and  industrial.  The 
feuds  of  powerful  families,  the  exploits  of  war,  glory,  honors, 
no  longer  occupy  public  attention  and  the  heralds  of  publicity. 
The  balance  of  trade,  the  state  of  exchange,  commercial  pros- 
perity, specie  payments,  have  taken  their  place,  and  become 
the  great  object  of  public  interest. 

The  present  epoch  of  civilization  has  fully  developed  the  ele- 
ments of  society,  which  are 

Agriculture,  Education, 

Manufactures,  Commerce, 

Arts,  Navigation, 

Sciences,  Internal  communications, 

but  it  has  not  regulated  and  associated  these  elements,  and  es- 
tablished order  and  unity  in  their  action.  As  civilization  is 
based  upon  an  infinite  variety  of  isolated  interests,  conflict  and 
opposition  must  exist  in  industry,  as  they  exist  in  the  political 
world.  Strife  is  transported  to  this  new  field;  for  what  else 
can  we  call  the  speculations,  monopolies  and  commercial  and 
financial  excesses,  which  characterise  the  present  epoch,  than 
a  war  of  Industry  and  all  its  elements.  In  such  a  state  of 
things  there  must  be  anarchy,  disorder,  waste  of  efforts  and 
conflicts  of  opposing  interests;  there  must  be  a  miserable  appli- 
cation of  all  the  great  sources  and  means  of  production,  such  as 
labor,  capital,  soil  and  natural  advantages.  To  suppose  that 
such  a  system  is  the  best  that  can  be  devised  to  facilitate  pro- 
duction, is  an  outrage  upon  common  sense ;  and  still  the  ques- 
tion of  a  reorganization  of  industry  which  is  of  such  primary 
importance  to  society,  is  entirely  overlooked  for  matters  of  minor 
consequence — like  those  of  the  currency  and  others. 


CIVILIZATION. 


381 


VICTOR  CONSIDERANT,  a  distinguished  author  and  a  disciple 
of  Fourier,  in  speaking  of  the  difference  between  the  barbarian 
and  the  civilized  periods,  remarks :     "  The  high  development 
of  Industry  and  the  Arts  and  Sciences,  is  the  leading  character 
of  civilization.     But,  although  it  has  created  the  elements,  the 
means,  the  instruments  of  industry,  it  is  still  very  far  from 
making  the  best  possible  use  of  them.    The  first  period  of  ci- 
vilization regulated  and  organized  War,  which  was  its  main 
and  absorbing  occupation.     It  left  production  and  industry  out 
of  the  sphere  of  govermental  action.     Industry  has  in  conse- 
quence been  developed  by  individual  efforts.     In  its  develop- 
ment it  has  remained  entirely  in  the  hands  of  individuals,  so 
that  all  the  powerful  means,  which  the  genius  of  man  has  con- 
quered, are  employed  blindly  and  anarchically  at  present  in  the 
great  operation  of  social  Production,  Distribution  and  Consump- 
tion.   They  are  left  without  regulation  or  counterpoises,  sub- 
ject to  the  will  and  caprice  of  individual  action,  to  the  derange- 
ment of  a  hazardous  and  envious  competition,  to  a  mania  of 
speculation  in  the  midst  of  the  most  perfect  incoherence,  and 
the  most  flagrant  opposition  of  interest.   All  the  powerful  means 
of  activfty,  production  and  wealth,  which  man  possesses,  he 
employs  most  miserably — the  general  conditions  of  their  appli- 
cation are  deplorable.    These  means  of  action,  these  fine  in- 
struments are  for  the  most  part,  arms  of  industrial  war  in  our 
hands ;  and  the  hostility,  division  and  extreme  discord,  which 
roign  in    the    field    of  production,    are  a  blight  to  Industry, 
permit  a  few  grains    only  to  grow  where  with  an  organized 
and    well  regulated    system,    abundant    harvests   should    be 
reaped. 


282  CIVILIZATION. 

"  The  principle  of  ORGANIZATION  is  the  principle  of  Life  and 
Force.  What  can  be  more  necessary  than  to  organize  Industry  1 
Where  is  it  more  important  to  extend  Life,  Force,  Convergency, 
Order,  Unity,  than  to  the  creation  of  the  material,  moral  and 
intellectual  riches,  which  are  the  condition  and  means  of  the 
development  of  Humanity  ]  Should  this  creative  and  valuable 
activity,  which  is  destined  to  absorb  the  former  oppressive  and 
destructive  activity  of  war,  be  left  without  organization  and  di- 
rection? What!  if  former  societies,  if  societies  of  strife  and 
carnage,  have  regulated  and  organized  war; — should  not  pre- 
sent societies, — societies  of  Industry,  feel  the  necessity  of  ex- 
tending Regulation,  Organization,  Order  and  Unity  to  Industry  1 
The  world,  after  having  regulated  and  organized  the  activity  of 
defence,  destruction  and  oppression,  should  comprehend  that 
the  great  question,  the  question  above  all  others,  ought  to  be  the 
regulation  and  organization  of  productive  Industry ! 

"  Order  cannot  exist,  where  there  is  no  Organization.     If  we 
wish  to  substitute  Order  in  the  place  of  Disorder  in  the  domain 
•of  Industry ; — we  must  extend  to  it  the  principle  of  Organiza- 
tion ;  and  as  the  field  of  Industry  luckily  is  constantly  extend-    / 
ing,  as  we  are  approaching  the  *  epoch,  when  the  who^  social      ' 
activity  is  to  be  concentrated  in  Industry — that  is  to  say,  in  the 
creation  of  the  means  of  the  happiness  and  development  of  man- 
kind— it  follows,  that  if  we  wish  Order  to  reign  in  society,  we 
must  necessarily  desire  that  Order  should  be  introduced  into 
Industry;  or  in  other  words,  that  Industry  should  be  organized? 


CIVILIZATION.  283 

§11. 

The  four  societies  which  have  existed  on  the  earth,  should, 
according  to  the  natural  course  of  things,  succeed  each  other 
with  regularity ;  but  various  circumstances, — soil,  climate,  rivers, 
seas,  formation  of  countries,  etc.,  influence  to  a  greater  or  less 
degree  their  form  and  character.  Some  nations  develop  them- 
selves faster,  some  more  slowly ;  some  pass  over  entire  periods, 
particularly  the  Patriarchal,  and  organize  the  Barbarian  at 
once ;  others  after  passing  a  short  time  in  Barbarianism  enter 
the  first  age  of  Civilization.  A  nation  after  having  progressed 
as  far  as  the  second  or  third  age  of  civilization,  may,  by  the 
action  of  disorganizing  events — revolutions  within  or  invasions 
from  without — be  suddenly  arrested  in  its  career  and  retrograde 
to  the  barbarian  period.  To  comprehend  the  nature  and  value 
of  historical  events,  and  the  laws  which  regulate  the  progress 
of  Nations,  we  must  first  clearly  comprehend  the  great  end, 
which  the  human  race  have  to  attain — we  must  comprehend 
their  social  Destiny ! 

A  society,  like  an  organic  body,  has  its  different  ages — has 
its  infancy,  growth,  maturity,  decline  and  dissolution.  Each 
social  period  commences  with  some  leading  principles,  which 
distinguish  it  from  the  period  which  proceeded  it.  (Exclusive 
marriage,  for  example,  distinguishes  the  first  stage  of  civiliza- 
tion from  the  barbarian  society,  with  its  seraglios.)  It  then 
develops  the  Institutions,  Laws  and  Customs,  which  are  in- 
herent in  the  principles  upon  which  it  is  based,  and  gives  to 
the  efforts  of  the  human  mind,  and  to  industry,  art  and  science 
a  character  and  direction  in  keeping  with  those  laws  and  cus- 
toms. The  epoch  at  which  it  attains  the  greatest  strength,  and 


284  CIVILIZATION. 

at  which  its  elements  receive  the  greatest  development,  charac- 
terizes its  maturity.  Its  decline  and  dissolution  are  effected  by 
the  overpowering  and  deranged  action  of  the  principles,  which 
gave  it  that  strength  and  development. 

TABLE  OF  THE  MOVEMENT  OF  CIVILIZATION,  WITH 
ITS  FOUR  AGES  OR  PHASES. 

FIRST  AGE.     Infancy. 
Exclusive  marriage  or  Monogamy. 
Feudality  of  the  Nobles. 
v>     PIVOT:       CIVIL  RIGHTS  OF  THE  WIFE. 
5  Federation  of  the  Great  Barons. 

2  Illusions  in  chivalry. 

SECOND  AGE.     Growth. 

o  Privileges  of  free  Towns  and  Cities. 

Cultivation  of  the  Arts  and  Sciences. 
a      PIVOT  :     ENFRANCHISEMENT  OF  THE  SERFS  OR  LABORING 

CLASSES. 

Representative  System. 

Illusions  in  Liberty  or  Democratic  Agitations. 

r  EXPERIMENTAL  CHEMISTRY  :  ART  OF  NAVIGATION. 
MATURITY  :  ^  NATIONAL  LOANS  :  CLEARING  OF  FORESTS  WITHOUT 
(_          EXCESSES. 

THIRD  AGE.     Decline. 
Commercial  and  Fiscal  spirit. 
Stock  companies. 

M      PIVOT:     MARATIME  MONOPOLY. 
Anarchical  Commerce. 

Financial  Illusions. 
3 

FOURTH  AGE.     Decrepitude. 


tion. 


Agricultural  Loaning  Companies. 

Associated  Farms  ;  discipline  system  of  cultiva- 


H     PIVOT  :     COMMERCIAL  AND  INDUSTRIAL  FEUDALITY. 

Contractors  of  Feudal  Monopoly  :    Oligarchy  of 

Capital. 
Illusions  in  Association. 


CIVILIZATION.  285 

The  proceeding  Table  or  Formula  of  the  Movement  or  Course 
of  Civilization,  is  the  true  general  law  of  this  society,  although 
it  may  vary  somewhat  in  different  countries,  as  for  instance  in 
Italy,  France,  England  and  the  United  States.  These  varia- 
tions, however,  are  the  effect  of  secondary  circumstances,  and 
do  not  affect  the  accuracy  of  the  Formula.  If  we  were  to  make 
a  perfect  drawing  of  the  human  body,  every  individual  would 
vary  from  it  in  some  respect,  but  still  the  drawing  would  re- 
main a  true  representation  of  the  human  figure. 

This  Table,  whieh  Fourier  has  traced  with  so  much  precision 
of  analysis,  shows  at  one  glance  the  whole  course  of  civiliza- 
tion,— shows  where  this  society  now  is,  and  where  it  is  tending : 
France,  England  and  the  United  States,  for  example,  are  in 
the  third  Phasis,  and  tending  strongly  to  the  fourth. 

As  civilization  is  the  most  advanced  society,  which  has  as 
yet  existed  upon  the  globe,  it  is  looked  upon — at  least  in  its 
fundamental  principles — as  perfect.  Men  admire  its  works  and 
achievements,  its  progress  in  the  arts  and  in  industry,  without 
ever  taking  into  account  that  happiness  exists  in  it,  merely  as 
an  exception,  and  that  those  achiements  have  been  accomplished 
— not  by  spontaneous  and  enthusiastic  efforts — but  by  con- 
straint, want  and  violence.  Politicians  in  their  admiration  of 
present  institutions,  overlook  entirely — as  did  the  scientific 
leaders  of  antiquity,  slavery  and  its  abuses — the  anxieties,  pri- 
vations and  miseries  of  the  great  majority,  who  wear  out  a  har- 
rassed  and  monotonous  existence  in  its  poverty  and  repugnant 
labor! 

Of  what  value  are  our  superficial  politics,  which  are  not  di- 
rected to  the  practical  amelioration  of  the  condition  of  the  mass, 


CIVILIZATION. 


whose  position  calls  so  loudly — not  for  metaphysical,  political 
and  legislative  controversies — but  for  some  effective  reforms  in 
Industry,  which  would  lighten  the  burden  of  production,  gua- 
rantee a  sufficiency  to  the  laboring  mass,  and  diffuse  more 
general  happiness  ?  It  will  probably  be  answered,  that  if  a 
sufficiency  were  guaranteed  the  mass,  they  would  abandon  In- 
dustry ;  that  want  or  the  fear  of  it,  is  a  necessary  stimulant  to 
labor!  This  is  true  enough  in  civilization;  and  we  therefore 
say,  that  whoever  will  examine  the  question  of  social  ameliora- 
tions, must  be  convinced,  that  the  perfecting  of  Civilization  is 
useless  as  a  remedy  for  present  social  evils,  and  that  the  only 
effectual  means  of  doing  away  with  indigence,  idleness  and  the 
dislike  for  labor  is  to  do  away  with  civilization  itself,  and  or- 
ganize Association,  based  upon  a  system  of  Attractive  industry, 
in  its  place. 

Politicians  and  Legislators  may  be  compared  to  travellers* 
wandering  in  some  strange  and  uninhabited  country,  who  have 
neither  compass,  maps  nor  other  means  by  which  to  direct 
themselves.  Like  those  travellers,  they  are  wandering  in  the 
labyrinth  of  civilization,  without  a  true  social  science  to  guide 
them;  legislating  for  the  requirements  of  the  moment  with- 
out any  high  object  or  policy  in  view. 

The  preceeding  table  is,  metaphorically  speaking,  a  map  of 
civilization.  With  its  aid  we  can  see  what  progress  this  socie- 
ty has  made,  and  in  what  manner  it  is  destined  to  terminate. 
The  nations  of  Europe  and  the  United  States  are  moving  on- 
ward towards  the  fourth  Age  of  civilization;  the  leading  cha- 
racter of  which  will  be  a  monop9ly  of  the  soil  (or  of  a  large 
portion  of  it)  by  great  capitalists,  who  will  organize  large  rural 


CIVILIZATIOIf.  287 

or  agricultural  establishments,  with  a  well  planned  system  of 
economy,  but  with  the  strict  discipline,  which  now  exists  in 
our  manufacturing  system.  What  has  been  done  for  manu- 
factures will  be  done  for  agriculture ;  that  is  to  say,  it  will  be 
organized,  which  it  now  is  not;  for  the  present  incoherence  can 
not  be  called  organization.  The  product  of  this  branch  of  in- 
dustry will  be  greatly  increased ;  little  or  no  attention,  however, 
will  be  paid  to  a  corresponding  amelioration  in  the  condition  of 
the  rural  populations.  This  operation  will  appear  important  in 
the  eyes  of  the  great  financial  operators  of  civilization,  as  it 
will  give  them  a  much  wider  control  over  banking,  commerce 
and  industry  in  general,  than  they  now  possess. 

The  present  movement  of  things  towards  the  fourth  Phasis  of 
civilization  is  very  rapid.  To  be  convinced  of  it,  we  have 
only  to  observe  what  an  activity  and  extension  commerce,  bank- 
ing and  finance — the  means  by  which  this  change  will  be  ef- 
fected— have  taken  within  the  last  fifty  years.  In  Europe 
various  circumstances  are  tending  directly  to  this  transforma- 
tion ;  and  in  the  United  States,  the  first  character  of  the  fourth 
Age,  Agricultural  Loaning  Companies — under  which  head  may 
be  comprised  our  Trust  Companies — is  receiving  a  regular  de- 
velopment. Politicians  and  the  leaders  of  society  should,  with 
these  facts  before  them,  be  convinced  of  the  uselessness  of  en- 
deavoring to  perfect  Civilization — to  perfect  a  system  inherently 
false  in  itself.  We  predict  that  the  future  perfection,  which  will 
be  given  to  Civilization,  will  be  accompanied  with  an  increase 
in  servile  dependency,  in  the  tyranny  of  capital,  and  in  vice 
and  fraud.  The  social  world  will  be  forced  through  a  new 
course  of  suffering,  which  will  vary  only  in  its  character.  Th« 


288  CIVILIZATION. 

multitude  in  the  last  Phasis  of  this  society  will  become  the 
serfs  of  a  commercial  Feudality,  to  which  politics  and  legisla- 
lation  will  be  subservient. 

The  world  is  ready  for  Association ;  the  elements  necessary 
for  its  organization  are  created,  and  nothing  is  wanting  but  po- 
litical genius  to  combine  them.  In  comparison  with  the  vast 
problem  of  a  social  transformation,  all  political  and  administra- 
tive controversies  sink  into  insignificance. 

"In  examining  the  foregoing  Table,  we  shall  find  that  the 
two  first  Ages  of  civilization  produce  a  decrease  of  direct  or  per- 
sonal servitudes ;  and  that  the  two  last  ages  produce  an  increase 
of  collective  or  indirect  servitudes."  * 

"  The  epoch  at  which  civilization  takes  forms,  which  are  the 
least  ignoble,  is  at  its  maturity.  We  will  not  say  the  most  noble, 
for  this  society  is  inherently  false,  and  varies  in  its  four  phases 
only  in  shades  of  individual  selfishness  and  duplicity,  which 
are  the  pivots  of  its  mechanism,  und  which  are  predominant 
throughout  its  course. " 

"Experimental  Chemistry  and  the  Art  of  Navigation  are 
characters  of  its  maturity ;  upon  these  two  branshes  of  know- 

*  The  enfranchisement  of  the  serfs,  which  takes  place  in  the 
second  Phasis,  does  away  with  the  bondage  in  which  the  laboring 
mass  are  held  by  the  nobles.  Personal  or  direct  servitude  and  de- 
pendency consequently  cease.  But  in  the  later  Phases,  as  popula- 
tion increases,  and  as  industry  receives  an  extended  development, 
the  laboring  classes  become  collectively  more  and  more  dependent 
upon  capitalists,  who  have  the  wealth  of  society, — the  lands,  manu- 
factories, etc.,  in  their  hands.  Where  is  there  a  more  perfect  de- 
pendency and  servitude  than  that  which  generally  exists  among  the 
manufacturing  populations  ? 


CIVILIZATIO5.  289 

ledge,  are  "based  perfection  in  industry  and  rapidity  of  com- 
munications. As  soon  as  the  civilized  period  is  provided  with 
these  two  levers,  it  is  ripe  for  a  change,  and  can  organize  a 
higher  social  order:  all  delay  becomes  prejudicial,  and  if  the 
change  does  not  take  place,  the  civilized  world  has  to  pas* 
through  the  two  descending  phases  of  tke  Period.  Civilization 
had  arrived  at  its  maturity  in  the  eighteenth  century;  it  then 
possessed  its  characters  of  maturity,  and  an  issue  from  it  should 
have  been  discovered  without  delay.  But  the  political  genius 
of  the  times  was  unequal  to  the  task,  and  the  world,  after  wade- 
ing  through  a  century  of  wars  and  revolutions,  has  run  com- 
pletely through  the  third,  and  is  now  pkinging  into  the  fourth 
age  or  decripitude  of  civilization, " 

"  As  to  civilization  in  Antiquity,  that  of  Athena,  for  example, 
was  a  second  phasis,  but  incomplete  and  defective  as  it 
wanted  the  pivotal  character  of  the  second  phasis, — the  Liberty 
nf  tke  laboring  Classes.  The  pivolal  character  determines  the 
phasis  of  a  period. " 

"  China  is  not  civilized,  because  marriage  is  not  exclusive  ; 
the  wife  who  is  secluded  does  not  enjoy  civil  rights.  The  mo- 
narch sets  a  legal  example  of  polygamy.  The  Chinese  society 
is  a  mixture  of  the  patriarchal,  barbarian,  and  civilized, — divers 
characters  of  all  of  which  it  has  amalgamated.  Societies  which 
are  thus  crossed,  are  the  most  stable  and  enduring,  but  at  the 
same  time  the  most  false  and  vicious.  The  present  civilization 
of  France,  England  and  the  United  States,  is  a  third  phasis 
on  the  decline.*  It  has  developed  long  since  the  characters  of 

•  Civilization  in  the  United  States  is  rather  less  advanced  than 
in  France  and  England,  as  the  soil  u  still  in  the  hands  of  those  who 

19 


290  CIVILIZATION. 

the  third,  and  Is  tending  strongly  to  the  fourth,  some  germs  <rf 
which  already  exist.  Its  politicians  and  financiers,  however,, 
do  not  know  what  applications  to  make  of  them  in  order  to 
organize  the  last  age  of  this  period,  which  would  be  a  progress, 
although  the  least  which  could  take  place ;  for  to  tend  to  the 
last  age  of  an  order  essentially  defective,  is  a  progress,  if  we 
choose  to  eall  it  such,  but  a  progress  towards  a  decline ;  a  body 
does  not  become  more  perfect  as  it  grows  old.  Such  is  the 
illusive  progress  of  the  present  advanced  st&ge  of  civilization. 
Societies  like  individuals  are  on  the  road  to  rum,  when  they  run 
in  debt  and  have  recourse  to  the  usurer.  This  is  the  character 
of  the  present  age,  which  hurries  from  loan  to  loan.  'r 

§  HI. 

We  have  frequently  remarked  that  tire  especial  task  of  the 
subversive  periods  is  to  create  the  materials  of  Association.  We 
will  examine  briefly  this  subject,  and  in  connexion  with  it,  the 
value  of  social  dissolutions  and  transformations. 

When  in  the  savage  state,  population  becomes  so  dense  that 
hunting  and  fishing  no  longer  guarantee  a  subsistence  to  man, 
he  is  forced  to  seek  in  the  cultivation  of  the  soiT,  and  in  some 
simple  branches  of  manufactures  the  means  of  procuring  food 
and  raiment.  He  then  passes  from  the  savage  to  the  patriarchal 

cultivate  it,  and  as  manufactures^  mills,  etc.,  are  owned  generally 
by  those  who  manage  them.  But  there  is  with  us  such  a  prodigious 
commercial  and  financial  spirit  at  work,  that  we  are  progressing 
with  rapid  strides,  and  we  may  possibly  organize  the.  fourth  period 
sooner  than  either  France  or  England.  Had  those  countries  our 
speculating  spirit,  our  reckless  enterprise  in  business  operations, 
they  would  accomplish  it  in  ten  years. 


CIVILIZATION.  291 

<ar  barbarian  order,  in  which  the  first  development  of  industry 
takes  place.  The  savage  who  relinquishes  his  hunting  and 
roving  life,  and  who,  in  this  change  of  his  social  condition, 
finds  himself  compelled  to  cultivate  a  patch  of  earth,  or  be- 
comes perhaps  a  slave,  loosing  his  liberty  and  with  it  his  rude 
primitive  happiness,  undergoes,  it  would  seem,  a  social  de- 
gradation. An  important  progress  notwithstanding  takes  place ; 
the  first  step  forward  is  made ;  for  man  must  develop  industry, 
and  prepare  the  materials  with  which  to  construct  his  social 
Edifice.  In  the  great  question  of  social  progress  (the  raising 
of  the  human  race  out  of  the  subversive  periods)  the  happiness 
of  the  individual  cannot  be  taken  into  account;  that  of  the 
savage  being  severed  from  industry,  is,  socially  considered, 
valueless ;  it  must  therefore  give  way  before  other  and  higher 
objects. 

The  two  leading  or  pivotal  characters  of  the  Barbarian 
period,  are  the  slavery  of  woman  and  tin:  slavery  of  the  pro- 
ducing classes.  It  is  easy  to  conceive  how  impossible  it  would 
be,  with  two  such  obstacles,  to  organize  Association,  based  on 
Groups  and  Series.  Civilization,  among  other  ameliorations, 
does  away  with  these  two  obstacles. 

In  the  barbarian  society  woman  is  without  rights ;  she  is  a 
mere  thing)  a  piece  of  property  which  can  be  bartered  for, 
and  which  he  secludes  in  his  harem  as  a  toy  for  his  pleasure ; 
if  the  goes  in  public,  she  must  veil  her  face,  so  that  it  will 
not  he  looked  upon  by  strangers.  So  completely  dependent 
in  she  upon  her  possessor,  that  he  can  deprive  her  of  life;  and 
this  degradation  extends  even  beyond  the  grave,  for  humor 

lality  is  denied  her. 

19  * 


CIVILISATION. 

This  inequality  of  Woman  in  the  Barbarian  period  is  sanc- 
tioned by  the  dogmas  of  religion ;  and  so  strong  is  the  barrier 
which  has  been  raised,  that  it  is  only  to  be  broken  down  by 
the  dissolution  of  the  whole  social  fabric,  of  which  it  forms  a 
part. 

If  we  transport  ourselves  in  immagination  to  the  epoch, 
when,  in  the  Combined  order,  Industry  will  be  exercised  by 
Series  of  groups ;  when  charm,  emulation  and  enthusiasm  will 
be  connected  with  all  its  occupations ;  when  woman  will  take 
part  freely  in  all  those  which  please  her, — receiving  in  h*r  in- 
dividual capacity  remuneration  according  to  her  talents  and 
labor,  which  will  render  her  the  equal  of  man,  and  give  her 
absolute  disposal  over  her  feelings,  her  sympathies  and  her 
person, — we  shall  feel  how  great  a  step  must  be  taken,  and  how 
many  prejudices  overcome,  before  Association  can  be  organized. 
(The  Groups  and  Series — without  which  no  concord,  no  har- 
mony of  the  passions  is  possible — cannot  be  organized  without 
the  independent  action  and  co-operation  of  woman.) 

The  barbarian  period  therefore  must  be  supplanted  by  civili- 
zation, and  men  must  prepare  the  higher  elements  and  condi- 
tions necessary  for  the  foundation  of  the  Combined  order. 

The  second  obstacle,  which  the  barbarian  society  offers  to 
Association,  and  which  civilization  does  away  with,  is  the 
slavery  of  the  laboring  classes.  Such  an  institution  poisons  all 
social  relations ;  it  draws  a  line  of  demarcation  between  two 
portions  of  the  human  race, — between  the  free  and  the  slave 
portion,  and  stamps  degradation  upon  the  latter.  The  slave 
envies  or  hates  the  master,  as  the  master  despises  the  slave. 
Here  then  is  a  second  invincible  obstacle  to  the  organization  of 


CIVILIZATION.  293 

the  Combined  order,  based  upon  that  general  friendship  and  social 
equality,  which  the  action  of  the  Series  produces.  The  master 
seeing  the  abasement  of  the  slave,  seeing  him  dislike  and  striv- 
ing to  avoid  labor,  believes  that  the  only  policy  is  violence  and 
constraint.  His  perverted  judgment  and  cupidity  reason  thus : 
"  with  the  lash  I  will  force  out  of  this  degraded  being  that  labor, 
which  he  refuses  to  perform,  and  which  his  vile  and  lazy  nature 
impels  him  to  avoid. "  *  It  is  easy  to  conceive  how  great  a 
«tep  is  to  be  here  again  taken,  before  Association,  which  re- 
quires a  friendly  mingling  of  all  classes  and  a  free  interchange 
of  social  relations,  can  be  organized. 

Thus  the  two  radical  obstacles  of  the  Barbarian  order  to  As- 
sociation, are  the  slavery  of  woman,  and  the  slavery  of  the 
cultivator  of  the  soil.  In  the  scale  of  social  progress  the 
especial  task  of  civilization,  which  is  the  next  higher  society, 
is  to  do  away  with  the  pivotal  defects  of  barbarianism,  is  to 
free  Woman  and  free  the  Laborer, 

The  first  age  of  Civilization  accomplishes  the  one,  and  the 
second  the  other.  (The  slavery  of  the  negro  race  is  a  character 
of  the  barbarian  society,  which  has  been  retained  and  engrafted 
on  the  civilized  social  mechanism.) 

The  change  or  transition  from  Barbarianism  to  Civilization  coV 
sists  in  replacing  the  sale  and  seclusion  of  women  in  seraglios 

*  If  the  barbarian  asserts  that  the  lash  is  the  only  means  of  forc- 
ing the  slave  to  labor,  the  civilizee  is  not  for  behind  him  in  his 
rcasoniags ;  for  he  will  assert  with  equal  confidence,  that  necessity 
and  want  are  necessary  stimulants  to  Industry.  The  barbarian  is 
as  ignorant  of  the  levers,  which  civization  puts  in  play,  as  is  the 
civilizee  of  the  powerful  incentives  to  action,  which  the  Groups 
and  Scries  will  call  forth. 


294  civiLiZATioir. 

by  a  system  of  exclusive  marriage,  and  by  the  concession  of 
civil  rights  to  the  wife.  Thus  woman  from  a  thing  is  elevated 
to  the  rank  of  wife.  This  is  the  line  of  demarcation  between 
the  two  periods ;  one  half  of  the  human  race  is  raised  out  of  it& 
abased  condition,  andr  with  the  consent  of  the  other,  are  at 
length  considered  as  an  equal.  This  elevation  gives  to  all  social 
relations  a  new  life  and  coloring;  poetry  and  galantry  spring 
into  existence;  refinement  and  courteousness  in  manners  and 
habits  follow,  and  new  views  and  feeling  are  awakened. 

The  first  impetus  given  was  powerful,  and  produced  the  most 
romantic  of  institutions,  that  of  chivalry,  which  with  its  tourna- 
ments, its  social  interchanges,  hs  festivities  and  rivalries,  and 
with  woman  as  its  divinity,  secured  her  a  rank  which  she  was- 
not  to  lose  again.  When  we  reflect  how  important  is  woman 
to  the  charm  of  social  relations,  we  see  how  much,  the  barbarian 
loses  by  her  seclusion  and  banishment  from  society.  He  cir- 
cumscribes within  a  narrow  and  prosaie  sphere  his  pleasures,, 
for  balls,  parties  and  all  the  gay  assemblages  of  the  sexes, 
which  arouse  in  the  heart  joy  and  delight,  and  which  give  ta 
life  its  romance,  are  impossible  without  woman.  The  bar- 
barian by  his  stupid  tyranny  cuts  himself  off  from  the  varied 
cftinns  and  enjoyments,  which  grow  out  of  the  freedom  of 
female  society, — and  the  absence  of  its  elevating  character 
banishes  refinement  from  his  existence. 


SECOND    PHASIS.  295 


CHAPTER  TWENTIETH. 

SECOND    PHASIS. 

It  is  asserted  that  modern  Civilization  is  more  powerful, 
more  moral  and  intellectual  than  the  Civilization  of  the  An- 
cients. The  truth  is  that  the  civilized  societies  of  Antiquity 
perished,  that  nations  retrograded  and  fell  into  barbarianism, 
that  an  other  civilization  has  been  formed,  which,  inheriting 
the  scientific,  literary  and  industrial  remains  of  the  proceed- 
ing societies,  has  been  better  provided  with  means  at  its  Ma- 
turity This,  however,  does  not  prove  that  overthrow*,  deca- 
dencies aud  retrogradations  have  not  in  reality  taken  place, 
and  that  two  thousand  years  have  not  been  lost  to  the  cause 
of  Social  progress.  Victor  Considerant. 

The  foregoing  remarks  sufficiently  explain  the  main  features 
of  the  first  phasis  of  civilization.  Its  other  characters  will  bo 
easily  understood :  the  purely  individual  tyranny  of  a  Sultan 
or  a  Pasha,  ceases;  and  in  the  federation  of  the  Great  Barons 
we  find  a  counterpoise  to  the  authority  of  the  monarch.  This 
produces  a  ponderation  of  powers,  which  gives  rise  later  to 
Parliaments,  States-General,  etc.  The  last  character  of  the 
phasis — IllusioBB  in  Chivalry,  will  be  explained  hereafter. 

The  leading  character  of  the  second  phasis  is  the  Enfranchise- 
ment of  the  industrial  or  laboring  classes.  Even  in  the  first 
age  an  important  modification  in  the  system  of  slavery,  aa  it 


296  SECOND   PHASHT.  '~:-\ 

exists  in  the  Barbarian  period,  takes  place.  The  slave  cease» 
to  be  a  mere  piece  of  property,  belonging  to  a  master  and  sub- 
ject in  every  way  to  his  will.  Under  the  name  of  serf,  he  be- 
comes attached  to  the  soil,  and  if  his  condition  be  not  im 
portantly  ameliorated,  an  opening  at  least  is  afforded  him  for 
his  later  enfranchisement.  The  serf  being  attached  to  the 
landed  estate  on  which  he  is  born,  ceases  to  be  a  transferable 
slave  or  moveable  property.  One  generation  obtains  the  con- 
cession of  some  few  rights-  and  privileges,  the  next  generation 
obtains  others,  and  an  enfranchisement  is  gradually  effected.* 

During  this  period  large  numbers  of  towns  and  cities,  which 
are  centres  of  industry,  are  enabled  through  tributes,  pur- 

*  Christianity  exercised  an  important  influence  in  the  enfranchise- 
ment of  the  serfs,  and  in  the  elevation  of  woman.  The  doctrine 
which  taught  that  all  men  were  equal  before  God,  that  they  were 
brothers  of  one  great  family,  produced  practical  tesulta  in  ages, 
when  thought  and  action  went  together. 

In  our  brief  analysis  of  civilization,  we  wish  to  confine  ourselves 
almost  exclusively  to  the  Industrial  movement,  with  a  view  of  show- 
ing that  the  object  and  destiny  of  this  society  is  to  prepare  the  ma- 
terials for  organizing  Association.  Whh  the  development  of  in- 
dustry, the  minds  of  the  mass  become  somewhat  enlightened,  their 
condition  is  ameliorated,  and  they  acquire  a  voice  in  society.  Slow 
ly  their  shackles  fall;  feudal  bondage,  the  last  remnant  of  the  slavery 
of  antiquity,  has  almost  entirely  disappeared  from  Europe,  and  in 
tliis  country,  where  the  condition  of  the  mass  is  so  much  above 
what  it  is  in  Europe,  have  we  not,  in  the  abolishment  of  imprisonment 
for  debt,  recognized  the  superiority  of  personal  liberty  over  all  pe- 
,  cuniary  considerations  ?  This  act  exhibits  the  highest  view,  which 
the  age  has  taken  in  the  question  of  human  liberty.  What  now  re- 
mains to  be  accomplished  is  to  guarantee  a  sufficiency  to  all ;  this  is 
only  possible  with  Attractive  Industry. 

Man  now  demands  a  higher  order  of  existence  ;  he  seeks  more 


SECOND    PHASIS. 

chases  and  force  to  obtain  privileges  and  freedoms.  The  yoke 
of  the  Nobles  is  thrown  off,  and  collective  enfranchisements, 
which  aid  powerfully  the  foregoing,  take  place.  Forms  of  go- 
vernment more  or  less  republican  are  instituted ;  the  represent- 
ative system  is  called  into  existence ;  and  with  it  the  Illusions 
in  Liberty  or  Democratic  agitations,  which  particulary  character- 
ize the  second  Age.  (A  character  belongs  to  the  phasis  which 
developes  it;  the  representative  system,  which  the  later  periods 
may  retain,  is  therefore  not  enumerated  among  their  characters.) 
The  overthrow  of  the  tyranny  of  the  Barons,  the  stability  result- 
ing from  the  preponderance  gained  by  the  monarchical  power,  the 
enfranchisement  of  the  industrial  classes,  awaken  in  the  second 
Age  a  new  life.  The  arts  and  sciences  begin  to  flourish ;  the 
tudies  of  astrology  lead  to  Astronomy ;  and  the  unwearied  ef- 
forts of  alchy mists  to  Chemistry.  Important  inventions  and 

ardently  for  happiness ;  because  he  sees  the  elements  of  it  around 
him.  Could  Association  be  realized,  it  would  guarantee  to  all  that 
happiness,  which  is  the  most  ardent  desire  of  our  natures — a 
desire  which  must  be  true,  for  it  is  written  in  our  hearts  by  the 
hand  of  the  Divinity  itself. 

It  is  possible,  however,  that  this  great  and  salutary  reform"  will 
'  opposed  by  the  higher  classes  of  society.  The  great  and  the  rich 
will  cling  with  tenacity  to  the  present  order,  fearing  in  their  con- 
tracted selfishness  that  the  few  paltry  advantages  which  they  now 
enjoy,  may  be  lost  to  them  in  the  Combined  order.  Politicians,  on 
the  other  hand,  will  also  adhere  to  the  present  system,  because  their 
ambition  is  connected  with  the  success  of  political  schemes  grow- 
ing out  of  the  institutions  of  civilization.  Although  Association  . 
would  offer  a  much  more  noble  and  vast  field  to  ambition,  still  this 
passion  would  have  to  be  diverted  from  present  objects,  and  a  new 
direction  given  it.  Transitions  of  this  kind,  as  we  know,  arc  ef- 
fected with  great  difficulty. 


298  SECOND    PHASI3. 

improvements  in  industry  take  place,  which  increase  immensely 
production  or  wealth.  Commerce,  or  the  exchange  of  products, 
becomes  an  important  branch  of  operations,  and  refinement  and 
a  love  of  ease  and  elegance  is  gradually  infused  into  society. 
The  cities  of  Italy  take  the  lead  in  this  movement,  and  are  to 
be  considered  the  pioneers  of  European  civilization. 

The  thirst  for  geographical  exploration,  the  invention  of  the 
mariner's  compass,  the  great  improvements  in  the  art  of  naviga- 
tion, the  theory  of  the  sphericity  of  the  earth,  the  discoveries 
in  astronomy  and  geography,  lead  to  the  opening  of  communica- 
tions with  the  East  Indies,  and  to  the  discovery  of  America. 
With  these  newly  acquired  means  and  incresed  resources,  Eu- 
rope progresses  rapidly  in  her  social  career,  and  advances  to- 
wards a  full  development  of  the  characters,  which  constitute  the 
Maturity  of  civilization. 

Chemistry,  Navigation  and  Inland  communications — cha- 
racters of  maturity — have  undoubtedly  been  very  much  perfected 
within  half  a  century ;  but  they  were  sufficiently  developed  a 
hundred  years  since  to  admit  of  a  social  change.  A  society  is 
to  be  considered  at  its  height  or  maturity,  when  it  has  created 
the  means  of  organizing  successfully  the  next  higher  social 
period ;  if  the  change  be  not  effected,  false  and  perverted  ap- 
plications are  made  of  those  means,  and  the  period  enters  its 
descending  movement. 

Civilization  develops  the  elements,  which  enable  man  to  attain 
his  Destiny  and  happiness,  but  it  neither  is  HIS  DESTINY,  nor  does 
it  secure  him  HIS  HAPPINESS.  To  explain  this  we  will  take  wo- 
man and  the  laborer,  (the  amelioration  of  whose  social  condition 
should,  as  they  form  the  large  majority  of  the  human  race,  be 


SECOND    PHNSIS.  299 

the  standard  by  which  to  judge  of  social  progress,)  and  show 
how  very  far  they  both  are  from  attaining  happiness  in  the  pre- 
sent system  of  isolated  families  and  repugnant  industry.  ,,;f 

Civilized  labor  being  degrading,  being  exercised  by  persons, 
who,  for  the  most  part,  are  coarse  and  vulgar  in  their  manners, 
woman  with  her  more  delicate  nature  shrinks  from  it.  There 
is  neither  charm,  elegance,  politeness  nor  anything  in  ac- 
cordance with  her  feelings  connected  with  it-  Add  that  man 
has  usurped  nearly  the  entire  field  of  industry  to  her  exclusion ; 
add  the  immense  complication  of  domestic  labor  attendant  upon 
our  system  of  isolated  households,  which  forces  her  to  waste  her 
life  in  the  unproductive  and  menial  occupations  of  the  kitchen, 
and  we  shall  find  woman  is  almost  entirely  estranged  from 
industry,  from  its  higher  occupations,  which  procure  considera- 
tion and  fortune,  and  which  develop  the  powers  and  faculties 
of  the  mind.  With  these .  social  disadvantages  resting  on  her, 
she  becomes  dependent  upon  man  for  her  support.  Pecuniary 
dependency  poisons  all  social  relations,  and  causes  to  a  greater 
or  less  extent  the  renouncement  of  liberty,  of  that  liberty  which 
is  the  most  cherished, — the  Liberty  of  the  heart  with  its  sym 
palhiea  and  affections,  Woman  in  her  union  with  man,  be- 
comes a  secondary  being,  who  is  annexed  to  him ;  she  loses  her 
name,  which  is  merged  in  his,  and  her  right  of  action  as  an  in- 
dependent being.  She  owes  him  obedience  in  return  for  sup- 
port; and  so  easily  does  the  mind  surrender  independent  re- 
flection to  predominant  prejudices,  that  even  woman  herself 
looks  upon  this  dependency,  this  abasement  as  natural.  She 
believes  that  a  career  in  those  higher  spheres,  where  man,  with 
a  few  exceptions  has  shone  alone,  is  shut  out  from  her,  and  that 


300  SECOND    PHASIS. 

her  virtues  should  be  those  which  are  adapted  to  the  narrow 
circle  of  the  isolated  and  monetonous  household. 

The  condition  of  woman  must  be  ameliorated, — she  must  so- 
cially be  elevated.  To  attain  this  end  we  would  not  recommend, 
however,  that  industry  as  it  at  present  is  exercised, — that 
banking,  commerce  and  business  in  general  should  be  thrown 
open  to  her,  or  that  political  rights, — the  right  to  vote  and  to 
sit  in  our  legislative  halls,  should  be  conceeded  to  her.  The 
selfishness  and  duplicity  which  they  communicate  to  man, 
would  be  extended  to  woman,  and  the  whole  circle  of  society 
would  be  involved  in  the  pervertion  of  civilization.  A  different 
rout  must  be  followed :  Industry  must  be  ennobled  and  refined, 
— it  must  be  elevated  to  woman  {  she  can  then  enter  it  with 
honor  and  advantage  to  herself;  and  while  she  finds  in  its  pur- 
suits the  guarantee  of  Individual  independence,  she  will  find  in 
its  noble  field  a  new  and  vast  sphere  of  action. 

In  the  Combined  order,  which  awards  merit  to  whom  it  is 
due,  to  woman  as  well  as  to  man,  to  the  poor  as  well  as  to  the 
rich,  (not  like  civilization,  which  circumscribes  rewards  and 
advantages  to  small  minority  of  males,)  she  can  develop  her 
faculties  and  powers — which  are  no  ways  inferior  to  those  of 
man — and  acquire  fortune,  distinction  and  renown  by  her  own 
efforts  and  talents.  She  will  then  no  longer  ask  support  at  his 
hands ;  she  will  have  no  longer  to  barter  sympathies  and  feel- 
ings for  physical  wants.  Invested  in  Association  with  her 
liberty  and  independence,  she  will  scorn  to  live  upon  his  in- 
dustry, and  will  soon  know  how  to  set  bounds  to  his  exactions 
and  pretentions  to  superiority. 

The  cause  of  Association  and  attractive  industry  is  especial- 


SECOND   PHASIS. 

ly  the  cause  of  woman ;  she  should  advocate  and  support  it,  for 
it  will  open  to  her  a  new  social  and  intellectual  existence. 

As  to  the  laborer,  of  whom  it  remains  to  be  spoken,  it  is 
evident  that  so  long  as  industry  is  repugnant  and  but  poorly 
rewarded,  he  must  suffer  from  the  system  with  whi&h  his 
existence  is  connected.  How  can  he  enjoy  effective  liberty  and 
happiness,  when  the  seven  eighths  of  his  daily  occupations, 
are  repulsive  and  oppressive  1  To  ameliorate  effectually  the 
condition  of  the  laboring  multitude,  those  occupations,  which  are 
their  Destiny,  and  to  which  they  are  now  forced  from  their  neces- 
sities, must  be  rendered  attractive,  honorable  and  lucrative.  This 
proposition  is  self-evident. 

What  do  the  richer  classes  of  the  Barbarian  and  Civilized  pe- 
riods gain  by  the  dependent  condition  of  woman  and  the  laborer  ? 
The  harem  is  the  "Tomb  of  Love."  This  beautiful  passion 
can  only  exist  where  there  is  liberty, — liberty  of  the  soul  and 
the  body.  The  Barbarian  cuts  himself  off  from  its  higher  de- 
lights and  refinements,  for  the  abject  state  in  which  woman, 
intellectually,  is  sunk,  deadens  the  source  from  which  they  flow. 
In  civilization  the  dependency  of  woman  upon  man  for  her 
physical  support,  is  also  very  unfavorable  to  a  full  and  noble 
development  of  this  delicate  and  romantic  passion.  So  pure 
and  susceptible  is  it  in  its  nature,  that  the  contact  of  the  com- 
monplace, low,  often  ignoble  calculations  of  civilization,  soils 
it.  The  thousand  antipathies,  which  the  cramped  and  isolated 
household  of  this  order  uselessly  produces,  would  not  exist  in 
a  Phalanx.  These  antipathies  are  to  love  what  the  early  frost 
is  to  the  delicate  flower:  both  are  easily  withered,  never  to 
revivo  again. 

I 


SECOND    PHASIS. 

If  those  classes  lose  intellectually  by  the  dependency  of  wo- 
man, they  suffer  physically  by  the  present  system  of  repugnant 
industry,  which  causes  the  servitude  of  the  laborer.  It  is  in 
the  vast  field  of  Industry,  that  man  should  nobly  distinguish 
himseU".  An  immeasurably  broader  scope  could  be  given  to 
his  genius  and  intelligence  in  this  sphere,  than  in  war  and 
politics,  which,  up  to  the  present  time,  have  been  the  two 
great  avenues  to  preferments.  But  now,  as  rank,  honors  and 
social  advantages  are  cut  off  from  Industry,  those  classes 
of  course  avoid  it,  and  they  are  in  consequence  condemned  to 
idleness  and  mental  sloth  on  the  one  hand,  and  to  physical 
weakness  and  disease  on  the  other. 


DECLINE  OP  CIVILIZATION.  303 


CHAPTER  TWENTY  FIRST. 

DECLINE    OF    CIVILIZATION. 

It  is  evident  that  the  face  of  Civilization  is  changed,  that 
monopoly  and  stock-jobbing,  which  are  two  characters  of  com- 
merce, have  overturned  the  former  order  of  things.  Is  this  a 
subject  of  triumph  or  alarm?  What  termination  tloes  this 
monstrous  irruption  of  the  commercial  power,  the  encroach- 
ments of  which  are  constantly  increasing,  presage  ? 

Fourier. 

Civilization  in  its  decline  perverts  the  germs  of  good,  which 
characterize  its  maturity,  and  after  carrying  out  all  the  con- 
sequences of  a  false  application  of  those  germs,  brings  forth 
characters,  which  enable  it  to  pass  to  the  next  higher  period. 
Civilization  will  end  with  a  Commercial  feudality  of  a  general 
monopoly  of  commerce  and  industry,  and  replace  individual 
action  and  free  competition  by  a  false  system  of  Association. 

The  art  of  Navigation  and  experimental  Chemistry  are  the 
two  principal  characters  of  Maturity :  let  as  examine  how  they 
are  misapplied  in  the  third  Phasis. 

The  art  of  Navigation  is  one  of  the  greatest  achievements  of 
human  genius.  Man  with  its  aid  obtains  a  knowledge  of  the 
globe  he  inhabits,  opens  communications  with,  and  extends 
his  field  of  operations  to  all  its  parts.  After  this  achieve* 
ment,  a  greatly  extended  system  of  navigation  leads  directly 


DECLINE   OF   CIVILIZATION. 

to  one  of  the  most  odious  characters  of  civilization,  to  Mara- 
time  monopoly. 

It  is  easy  to  foresee  that  in  the  conflicts  and  wars  of  nations, 
some  one  will  obtain  a  naval  power,  that  will  enable  it  to  crush 
the  navies  of  other  nations,  and  exercise  a  monopoly  of  the 
ocean,  which,  besides  being  a  gigantic  source  of  profit,  is 
most  nattering  to  the  pride  of  a  commercial  people.  It  has 
been  reserved  to  England  to  exercise  this  monopoly.  As  an 
insular  Power  whose  strength  to  repel  foreign  foes  must  con- 
sist in  her  navy,  she  was  in  every  way  calculated  to  obtain 
this  dominion  of  the  ocean.  We  will  quote  a  remark  of  Na- 
poleon, which  explains  concisely  the  results  of  the  policy  of 
England  on  this  point. 

"What  is  at  present  the  state  of  Europe!  England  on  one 
hand  possesses  by  herself  a  dominion  to  which  the  entire  world 
has  had  up  to  the  present  time  to  submit ;  on  the  other  hand 
the  French  empire  and  the  continental  Powers  with  the  com- 
bined forces  of  their  union,  cannot  accept  the  kind  of  supre- 
macy, which  England  exercises.  Those  powers  had  also  co- 
lonies, had  a  maratime  commerce ;  they  possess  in  extent  of 
coasts,  a  vast  deal  more  than  England  ;  they  have  become  dis- 
united; England  has  combatted  separately  their  navies;  she 
has  triumphed  on  all  seas ;  every  navy  has  been  destroyed. 
Russia,  Sweden,  France,  Spain,  with  so  many  means  for  pos- 
sessing vessels  and  sailors,  dare  net  hazard  a  fleet  outside  their 
ports." 

The  maratime  monopoly  of  England  is  the  greatest  scourge, 
which  the  descending  movement  of  civilization  has  inflicted 
upon  the  world.  With  this  monopoly  she  has  secured  to 


DECLINE  OF  CIVILIZATION.  305 

herself  the  largest  portion  of  the  commercial  profits  of  the  globe. 
She  has  destroyed  the  fleets  and  commerce  of  other  countries, 
smothered  their  enterprize,  and  prevented  that  general  and  more 
equal  development  of  industry,  which  can  alone  guarantee  pros- 
perity to  all.  What  has  been  gained  to  one  country,  has  been 
lost  ten  times  over  to  other  Nations. 

•    I      * 

The  misapplication  of  the  other  germ  of  maturity — Che- 
mistry— acts  in  a  more  restricted  sphere.  This  science,  which 
should  impart  a  full  and  scientific  development  to  all  branches 
of  Industry,  becomes  in  the  hands  of  industry  and  commerce 
the  means  of  giving  an  unlimited  extension  to  fraud  and  adultera- 
tion. In  all  the  products  of  agriculture  and  manufactures, 
which  are  susceptible  of  falsification,  adulteration  is  carried  to 
an  amazing  extent.  The  commercial  or  intermediate  classes,  * 
by  their  excessive  increase,  arc  forced  to  give  hazardous  credits, 
or  to  resort  to  means  like  the  above  to  secure  profits,  whipa  the 
competition  of  numerous  rivals  cut  down.  The  adulteration  of 
products  falls  particularly  heavy  on  the  poorer  classes;  and 
althoughjits  universal  practice  has  in  a  measure  legalized  it, 
still  it  cannot  be  considered  in  any  other  light  than  a  rude  and 
selfish  impulse  of  the  individual  to  cheat  and  defraud  lor  the 
purpose  of  personal  gain.  It  is  one  of  the  most  glaring  ex- 
amples of  the  universal  conflict  of  interests,  which  at  present 
exists,  and  which  will  only  cease  fully  in  Association. 

•I-1'.  I'.UI"   ')     i.'lMilK 

*  Intermediate,  because  they  stand  between  the  producer  and 
the  consumer.  They  make  often  a  larger  profit  o»  product*,  which 
pass  through  their  hands,  than  the  industrial  classes,  who  produce 
them. 

30 


306  DECLINE   OF  CIVILIZATION. 

• 

•'  The  main  feature  of  the  third  Phasis  of  civilization,  is  tie- 
immense  development  of  Commerce,  and  the  great  extension 
of  its  influence  and  power.  It  was  not  suspected  a  centary 
since  that  the  commercial  interest  might  one  day  domineer  over 
agriculture  and  render  governments  themselves  subservient.  It 
is  now  Beginning  to  be  perceived ;  and  whatever  efforts  may 
be  made  to  resist  its  encroachments,  will  be  unavailing,  pro- 
vided civilization  is  continued,  and  the  fourth  phasis  is  or 
ganized.  Everything  in  that  period  will  have  to  submit  to  the 
undisputed  sway  of  a  gigantic  combination  of  capital-  and"  com- 
merce. 

- 

If  we  examine  the  various  regions  of  the  globe,  we  shaK 
find  that  each  yields  products  peculiar  to  each,  which  all  re- 
quire. This  general  want  can  only  be  satisfied  by  exchanges 
of  products, — an  operation  which  is  eminently  advantageoBS  to 
all.  These  exchanges  constitute  what  is  called  commerce- 
For  the  interest  and  welfare  of  society,  it  is  evident  that  they 
should  take  place  in  the  most  direct  and  economical  manner 
possible ;  that  products  ya  passing  from  country  to  country,  or 
place  to  place, — from  the  producer  to  the  consumer,  should  not 
be  monopolized,  adulterated  or  made  use  of  in  any  way  that 
will  turn  to  the  advantage  only  of  the  classes,,  who  effecs 

those  exchanges, 

..•.••• 

Should  commerce  domineer  over  productive  industry,  or 
should  they  be  equals  ?  Should  it  monopolize  credit  and  ca- 
pital, while  Industry  is  for  the  most  part  deprived  of  both, 
and  paralized  for  want  of  means'?  Should  the  commercial 


DECLINE   OF   CIVILIZATION.  307 

classes  be  rich,  while  the  producing1  classes  are  poor  1  Should 
the  interests  of  the  former  sway  legislation,  or  should  legis- 
lation be  extended  equally  to  agriculture  and  manufactures, 
for  which  in  reality  so  little  is  done  1  In  short,  should  rank, 
honors  and  social  advantages  be  mainly  for  those  whose  skill 
consists  in  the  buying  and  gelKng  of  products,  while  the  po- 
verty and  drudgery  of  society  are  for  the  laboring  multitude, 
whose  industry  and  patience  produce  them* 

But  all  supremacy  is  in  commerce,  and  whether  right  or 
wrong,  it  has  obtained  an  absolute  control  over  Industry.  In 
proof  of  the  feet,  let  us  take  a  general  view  of  the  condition 
of  tha»4jopwlations  of  the  earth,  and  examine  the  relation 

whtWr- exiftfcs^etweeo  the  Commercial  and  Producing  classes. 

-^L> 
We    findlOT"**^  one    hand  tbe    laboring   multitude    of  all 

countries, — of  China  and  India, as  well  as  of  Europe,  at  the 
service  of  those  who  command  the  capital  and  credit  6f  the 
world; — we  find  them  ignorant,  divided  in  interests,  de- 
pendent upon  their  day's  work  for  their  support,  without  time 
to  reflect  upon  their  condition,  or  if  they  have,  without  the 
intelligence  to  discover  a  remedy.  On  the  other  hand  we 
And  the  rich  bankers  and  merchants,  who  have  the  exchanges 
of  products  and  the  monied  capital  of  the  globe  in  their  hands, 
controling  industry  to  suit  their  projects  and  speculations; — 
giving  animation  to  it  at  one  time,  causing  stagnation  at  an- 
other, as  their  interests,  their  false  judgement  or  fears  may 
dictate.*  Controling  industry  as  they  do,  they  exercise  a 

*  Cannot  the  Bank  of  England,  for  example,  send  forth  a  fiat  at 
any  time,  which  will  influence  the  commercial  and  industrial  move- 
ment from  China  to  the  ihore§  of  the  Mississippi  ?  The  world  is 

20* 


308  DECLINE    OF   CIVILIZATION. 

greater  or  lesser  influence  over  the  existence  of  the  millions  of 
beings,  who  fill  its  ranks. 

As  industry  is  becoming'  the  absorbing  occupation  of  society, 
political  tyranny  is  giving  way  to  the  tyranny  of  capital.  If  in 
he  first  Age  of  civilization  the  profits  of  the  labor  of  the  mass 
went  to  a  small  minority  of  nobles,  they  go  in  its  third  Age  to 
bankers,  merchants  and  financiers,  who  have  the  credit  and 
capital  of  society  in  their  hands.  The  world  is  tending  to  a 
commercial  and  financial  vassalage,  at  which  it  is  destined  to 
arrive,  when  Commerce, — not  content  with  the  profits  which  it 
makes  in  the  exchange  of  products,  will  discover  the  means  of 
becoming  possessor  of  the  fundamental  capital  itself,  that  is,  of  the 
soil.  As  soon  as  a  third  of  the  landed  property  passes  into  the 
hands  of  large  capitalists,  and  the  system  of  stock-companies 
is  applied  to  agriculture,  an  entrance  into  the  fourth  Phasis  of 
civilization  will  be  effected. 

Until  within  a  century  or  twor  commerce  has  held  merely  a 
subordinate  rank  in  society ;  in  antiquity  it  enjoyed  very  little 
consideration,  and  was  not  considered  at  all  an  honorable  pur- 
suit. To  what  combination  of  circumstances  does  commerce 
owe  the  prodigious  extension,  which  it  has  received  ?  How  has 
it  been  able  to  gain  an  absolute  control  over  Industry,  and  be- 
come the  guide  of  the  politics  of  nations  1  Among  the  pro- 
minent circumstances,  which  have  led  to  this  result,  may  be 
enumerated  the  important  improvements  in  navigation,  the  open- 
ing of  communications  with  the  East  Indies,  and  other  parts  of 

becoming  daily  more  and  more  dependent  upon  the  commercial  and 
monied  power,  and  the  classes  who  wield  it. 


DECLINE    OF  CIVILIZATION. 

the  globe,  the  discovery  of  America,  the  great  improvements  in 
machinery  and  the  better  organization  of  Industry.  AH  these 
things  have  augmented  production  very  greatly  and  increased 
twenty-feld  the  quantity  of  Exchanges  to  be  made.  If  we  add 
monopoly,  adulteration  and  other  operations  by  which  com- 
merce has  at  least  doubled  its  legitimate  profits,  we  shall  find  a 
forty-fold  increase  of  gains.  Commerce  in  consequence  has  be- 
come the  great  avenne  to  wealth,  and  the  idol  of  a  money-mak- 
ing age.  The  feudal  and  military  spirit  is  worn  out,  and  the 
energy  of  the  "world  is  directed  to  this  new  career.  Wealth  has 
become  the  standard  of  rank  and  -consideration,  and  its  attain- 
ment a  frenzy. 

Another  cause  of  the  supremacy  of  commerce,  and  of  the  ab- 
sence of  equilibrium  in  the  great  operation  of  production,  is  the 
want  of  combination  and  association  between  the  producing 
classes.  AH  branches  of  industry  are  exercised  by  isolated  in- 
dividuals, -who  for  the  most  part,  do  not  possess  sufficient  ca- 
pital to  prosecute  successfully  their  undertakings,  or  who  do 
not  offer  sufficient  -guarantees  of  stability  to  capitalists  to  ob- 
tain it. 

The  commercial  classes  on  the  other  hand  possess  capital 
and  responsibility.  They  operate  on  a  rarge  scale,  and  are 
considered  the  safest  and  most  desirable  debtors ;  they  gradual- 
ly monopolize  the  floating  capital  of  the  world,  which  is  to 
industry  what  blood  is  to  the  body,  and  become  by  this  means 
the  masters  of  production. 

Why  does  commerce  require  this  immense  amount  of  capital  ? 
It  is  because  it  must,  to  make  its  profits,  purchase  the  products 


310  DECLIJTE  OF   CIVILIZATION. 

of  industry  as  they  are  created.*  As  the  amount  of  specie  i* 
the  world  is  not  sufficient  for  this  purpose,  an  extended  banking 
system  has  been  organized,  with  the  privilege  of  issuing  paper- 
money  as  a  representative  of  specie.  The  present  banking 
system  is,  by  its  nature,  adapted  only  to  the  operations  of  com-- 
merce  and  speculation.  Thus-  the  commercial  classes,  together 
with  the  large  manufacturers,  who  resemble  them  in  many 
respects,  monopolize  the  monied  capital,  and  secure  to  them- 
selves the  profits  and  influence  which  it  gives.  Is  it  not 
surprising  that  a  class  of  intermediate  operators  should  have 
obtained  this  control  over  production, — a  control  which  neces- 
sarily extends  to  the  laboring  multitude  engaged  in  it? 

Commerce,  so  little  understood,  is  a  vast  question,  which,  to> 
be  fully  explained,  would  require  a  methodic  and  lengthy 
treatise.  We  will  close  our  remarks  with  the  following  brief 
definition. 

Commerce  is  an  intermediate  agent,  which  stands  between 
those  who  produce  and  those  who  consume ;  it  levies  a  profit 
on  all  products  as  they  pass  betweea  the  two, — a  profit  which 
is  out  of  all  proportion  with  production  and  with  the  real  value 
of  the  service  it  renders.  If  we  add  its  tendency  to  monopolize,, 
adulterate  and  to  run  into-  excesses,  which  are  an  injury  to  pro- 
duction, it  is  evident  that,  like  all  other  branches  of  the  ci- 
vilized mechanism,  it  requires  reform. 

*  In  the  Combined  order,  the  Phalanxes  would  settle  sales  and 
purchases  by  transfers  of  credit,  and  by  drafts  and  bills  of  ex- 
change. Although  a  hundred  times  as  many  exchanges  as  at  pre- 
sent of  products  will  take  place,  stfll  there  will  be  less  complica 
tion.  A  smaller  amount  of  circulating  median*  will  consequently 
be  required  for  commercial  operations. 


DECLINE   OF  CIVILIZATION.  311 

The  last  character  of  the  third  Phasis,  financial  Illusions, 
•remains  to  be  explained.  Financial  schemes  are  the  order  of 
the  day.  To  acquire  wealth,  and  to  acquire  it  rapidly,  is  the 
effort  of  all.  Productive  Industry  is,  it  is  true,  the  only  source 
of  riches,  but  it  is  a  process  which  is  slow  and  laborious ;  if 
the  sign  or  representative  of  its  products — money — can  be  ob 
•tained,  it  answers  equally  will  the  purpose  of  the  possessor;  for 
with  it,  he  can  purchase  those  products.  What  an  infinite 
variety  of  schemes,  projects  and  speculations  hav«  been  devised 
to  obtain  the  representative  of  that,  for  the  production  of  which 
so  much  labor  is  required !  If  we  examine  the  spirit  of  the  day 
we  shall  find  that  human  ingenuity  is  directed,  not  to  the  im- 
proving and  ennobling  of  industry,  but  to  the  obtaining  of  its 
products  by  scheming  and  speculative  operations. 

The  principal  field  of  operations  is  banking.  The  creating 
of  banks,  the  extension  of  credit,  the  conjuring  up  the  repre- 
sentative of  labor  and  production  under  every  form,  are  charac- 
teristic of  the  epoch.  Production,  as  we  remarked,  is  slow  and 
laborious;  if  a  paper  dollar,  which  it  is  so  easy  to  make,  will 
buy  a  bushel  of  wheat,  which  it  is  so  difficult  to  grow,  the 
shrewd  and  scheming  will  strive  to  emit  the  representative,  in- 
stead of  producing  the  reality.  If  they  do  not  use  the  issues 
themselves  in  business  operations,  speculations  or  in  buying  the 
products  of  industry,  they  lend  them  toothers,  who  wiH  embark- 
in  these  intermediate  operations,  and  share,  in  the  interest 
they  pay,  the  profits  which  they  make. 

The  meana  devised  to  extend  bank-issues  and  to  inflate  the 

redit  system,   are  sanctioned   and    applauded    by  people   in 

general,  who  believe  that  the  collective  wealth  of  the  country 


312  DECLINE   OF   CIVILIZATION. 

is  increased  by  an  extended  circulation  of  paper  money,  or  in 
other  words,  by  keeping  large  amounts  of  the  representative  of 
the  products  of  industry  afloat.  A  restless  money-making 
spirit,  and  the  cupidity  and  selfishness  which  arise  from  the 
action  of  isolated  individuals  and  companies,  have  entered  this 
field,  and  the  schemes  and  artifices,  which  have  been  invented 
to  issue  and  give  circulation  to  a  representative  of  production, 
are  as  numerous  as  the  frauds,  which  have  grown  out  of  them. 
It  is  evident  that  speculative  operations  in  banks,  commerce, 
stock-companies,  land,  rail-roads,  and  in  fact  in  every  thing 
which  admits  of  it,  occupy  the  attention  of  the  more  wealthy 
and  active  men  in  society, — leaving  the  most  important  element 
of  the  social  mechanism — Industry — in  the  hands  of  those  who 
have  neither  the  capital  nor  influence  requisite  to  improve  it. 

We  class  the  above  branch  of  operations  under  the  general 
head  of  Financial  Illusions,  because,  as  a  means  of  increasing 
the  collective  riches  of  society,  they  are  perfectly  illusive ;  they 
add  nothing  to  its  real  wealth,  but  are  on  the  contrary  a  burden 
to  productive  industry. 

Financial  Illusions  are  the  favorite  pursuit,  or  to  use  a  com- 
mon, place  expression,  the  hobby  of  the  third  phasis  of  civilization 
with  its  money-making  spirit,  as  Illusions  in  Chivalry  were  of 
the  first  Phasis,  with  its  military  spirit ;  Illusions  in  Liberty  were 
of  the  second,  with  its  combats  for  Freedoms  and  Enfran- 
chisements,— and  as  Illusions  in  Association  will  be  of  the 
fourth,  with  its  system  of  forced  association  and  combination. 

In  concluding  our  remarks  upon  this  subject,  we  will  il- 
lustrate by  an  example,  as  examples  speak  louder  than  reason- 
ings, the  infatuation  of  all  classes  of  society  for  these  financial 


DECLINE    OF   CIVILIZATION.  313 

Illusions.  The  State  of  New  York  in  its  session  of  1838 
passed  a  General  Banking  Law,  permitting  on  certain  condi- 
tions the  establishment  of  banks,  and  the  issuing  of  paper 
money.  At  this  time  (June  1840)  nearly  one  hundred  banks 
have  gone  into  operation  in  various  parts  of  the  State.  Have 
they  increased  production  or  the  effective  riches  of  the  State ! 
Have  they  encouraged  industry,  benefitted  the  laboring  multi- 
tude, or  even  satisfied  the  illusion  of  having  money  plenty! 
They  have  attained  none  of  these  ends :  they  have  been  impotent 
as  to  good,  to  say  nothing  of  the  evils  they  are  to  bring  forth. 

Let  us  examine  -what  could,  with  the  same  means,  have  been 
accomplished,  had  a  different  policy  been  pursued,  and  had 
public  attention  been  directed  to  an  increase  of  production  or 
real  wealth, — by  improving  Industry. 

These  Banks  have  expended  in  buildings  and  rents,  in  plates, 
books,  negotiations,  clerks'  hire,  etc.,  thousands  each  on  an 
average,  which  may  be  considered  a  positive  loss  and  waste. 
Suppose  public  attention  had  been  directed  to  Agricultural  As- 
sociation, and  that  a  hundred  Associations  had  been  founded, 
uniting  as  many  conditions  laid  down  in  the  table  (pag.  205)  as 
possible,  it  is  evident  that  most  important  and  useful  result* 
would  have  heen  obtained.  Among  various  improvements, 
which  could,  with  such  a  system  be  introduced,  we  will  mention 
a  more  judicious  application  of  ages,  sexes  and  capacities  to 
industrial  occupations,  of  crops  to  soils,  and  of  cultivation  to 
localities. 

The  sums  spent  in  plates,  etc.,  would  have  enabled  the  As- 
sociations to  obtain  the  most  beautiful  races  of  animals,  and  the 
most  perfect  species  of  fruits,  flowers,  plants  and  grains.  The 


DECLINE   OF   CIVILIZATION. 

increase  of  production  by  these  means,  and  by  combination  of 
action,  could  not  fail  to  be  very  great.  If  we  add  all  the  eco- 
nomies of  Association,  which  are  positive  profit,  it  is  easy 
to  conceive  how  very  much  the  resources  of  the  State  would, 
with  such  a  policy,  be  augmented.  With  a  vastly  increased 
product,  it  could  easily  carry  out  its  system  of  internal  im- 
provements without  incurring  a  State  debt,  the  interest  of 
which,  after  absorbing  the  improvements  themselves,  remains 
a  tax  upon  the  future  industry  of  the  country. 

Such  are  a  few  of  the  advantages,  which  might  result  from 
an  enlightened  policy  with  regard  to  Industry.  We  venture  to 
say  that  ten  years  hence  a  proposition  like  the  above  will  ap- 
pear feasible,  but  at  present  it  will  no  doubt  be  considered  chi- 
merical, even  by  our  most  enlightened  statesmen,  who  in  the 
vast  and  important  question  of  INDUSTRY,  see  only  com- 
merce and  the  currency,  and  in  the  Social  organization,  only 
the  administration. 


.'..:         .-     •  -qr  i^o. 


FOURTH    PHASIS.  315 


• 

CHAPTER  TWENTY-SECOND- 

FOURTH    FHASIS. 

The  basis  of  civilized  Industry    is   the  ISOLATED  FAMILY 
and  the  ISOLATED  CORPORATION  : — Seylla  and  Charybdis. 

*  Fourier. 

i  *  I- 

Civilization  in  its  Third  Age  becomes,  as  we  hare  seen,  an 
arena  of  conflicting  commercial  and  industrial  interests.  The 
elements  of  society,  in  which  we  include  agriculture,  manu- 
factures, commerce,  banking,  the  positive  sciences,  internal 
communications,  receive  an  extensive,  but  incoherent  de- 
velopment. As  they  are  called  into  existence,  they  are  neither 
regulated  nor  organized,  and  no  guarantees  are  established  to 
prevent  abuse  and  misapplication.  They  are  left  to  the  control 
of  individual  action  and  free-competition,  and  with  two  such 
principles  at  work  in  a  complicated  state  of  things  like  the  pre- 
sent, it  is  easy  to  conceive  that  the  greatest  excesses,  fluctua- 
tions and  disorders  must  follow.  If  we  add  the  feverish  strife 
after  wealth,  which  pervades  society,  and  the  antagonism, 
selfishness  and  the  anti-social  spirit,  which  are  called  forth  by 
the  conflicting  efforts  of  individuals,  we  may  say  with  truth 
that  the  present  is  a  social  war,  a  conflict  of  all  the  interests 
and  elements  of  society. 


316 


FOURTH    PHASIS, 


The  third  Phasis  of  civilization  has  been  prolonged  entirely 

beyond  what  it  should  have  been;  it  is  engendering  various 
•excesses  and  disorders,  and  is  producing  a  political,  commercial 

•and  industrial  demoralization,  which  differs  from  that  of  courts 
and  military  epochs,  but  which  is  viler,  more  intense  and  wide 
spread.  We  will  enumerate  a  few  disorders  both  great  and 
small,  which  particularly  characterize  the  third  Phasis,  and  ask 
whether  the  present  epoch,  with  all  its  boast  of  being  en- 
lightened, and  all  its  pretensions  to  morality,  is  not  blind  to 
abuse  and  injustice  on  a  gigantic  scale,  and  to  a  wide  spread 
demoralization,  which  has  obtained  the  sanction  of  daily  prac- 
tice and  of  public  toleration ! 

Among  the  Disorders  of  the  third  Phasis,  we  will  enumerate 
the  following :  Prostitution  of  the  representative  system ;  Extra- 
vagante  national  and  state  loans ;  Encroachment  of  Capital  and 
Commerce  on  the  political  power  and  on  governments ;  Insta- 
bility of  Institutions ;  Fluctuations  in  industry  and  <ommerce, 
and  ruin  of  individuals ;  Stock-jobbing  and  gambling;  Financial 
schemes  and  frauds;  Wild -speculations ;  Commercial  excesses; 
Monopolies  and  Adulterations;  Decrease  of  salary ;  Withdrawal 
of  capital  from  Agriculture ;  Leagues  of  capitalists  to  sway  in- 
industry;  Individual  and  corporative  banking; 'Currency  arbi- 
trarily controled  and  without  counterpoises;  Artificial  contrac- 
tions and  expansions  in  the  same;  Intermediate  profit  in  all 
operations ;  Literary  calumny,  particularly  of  the  press  with 
which  it  has  degenerated  into  a  habit ;  Servile  flattery  of  public 
prejudices  to  gain  popularity;  Promulgation  of  false  social 
doctrines,  such  as  agrarianism,  community  of  property,  etc. 

It  is  a  law,  to  which  there  are  very  few  exceptions,  that  one 


FOURTH    PHASIS.  317 

excess  follows  another;  to  these  abuses,,  will  succeed  a  species 
of  false  regulation  and  order  in  the  industrial  system,  resulting 
from  a  general  monopoly  of  commerce  and  industry,  a  mono- 
poly which  will  be  the  leading  feature  of  the  fourth  Age  of 
civilization,  as  free-competition  is  of  the  third. 

The  great  and  the  rich  do  not  like  to  be  involved  in  the  dif- 
ficulties of  small  schemers,  and  in  the  ever  fluctuating  opera- 
tions of  aw  anarchical  system  of  commerce.  I<  is  clear  that 
they  will  sooner  or  later  take  measures  to  guarantee  themselves 
against  these  fluctuations,  which  they  can  only  do  effectually 
by  organizing  the  fourth  Phasis,  to  which  both  their  feelings 
and  wishes  tend.  il^Mf/4  « 

"When  civilization,"  says  Fourier,"  has  reached  its  third 
stage,  having  as  its  predominant  character  mercantile  anarchy  or 
false  competition,  it  can  only  advance  by  a  change  from  the 
third  to  the  fourth  phasis,  to  a  system  of  banking  and  commer- 
cial feudality,  to  which  it  is  strongly  tending,  but  which  our 
bankers  and  financiers  do  not  know  how  to  organize." 

"  Banks  and  commerce  are  making  every  effort  to  gain  power  ; 
they  are  constantly  on  the  alert,  planning'  speculations,  mono- 
polies and  industrial  enterprizea;  they  have  found  the  means  of 
eating  up  the  future  revenues  of  countries  by  aiding  govern- 
ments to  multiply  their  loans.  It  remains  for  them  to  discover 
the  means  of  becoming  possessors  in  twenty  or  thirty  years  of 
the  fundamental  capital  itself— the  soil— or  at  least  of  one  halt' 
of  it.  Once  owners  of  this  half,  their  league  could  sway  the 
owners  of  the  other  half,  and  control  governments  themselves, 
as  did  the  great  barons  in  their  day. " 

"  In  proof  of  this  tendency  to  a  new  feudality,  let  us  lay  down 


318  FOURTH   PHASIS. 

as  a  principle  in  Movement,  that  in  all  careers  there  is  CONTACT 
OF  EXTREMES.  At  the  commencement  and  the  close  of  the  life 
of  man,  for  example,  we  find  an  infancy,  and  at  the  commence- 
ment and  close  of  civilization,  we  shall  find,  according  to  the 
same  law,  a  feudality." 

C  Baronial  Feudality. 
Infancy,  or  1st  Phasis,    .  < 

£  Spirit  of  Chivalry. 

C  Commercial  Feudality. 
Decrepitude,  or  4th  Phasis,  < 

£  False  Association. 

"Thus  this  society  having  commenced  with  one  Feudality, 
must,  if  it  go  regularly  through  all  its  stages,  terminate  with 
another  Feudality,  according  to  the  law  of  Contact  of  extremes; 
this  truth  would  have  been  conprehended  long  since,  had  any 
regular  analysis  of  civilization  been  made.  Nothing  is  more 
evident  than  the  present  tendency  of  the  great  bankers  and  mer- 
chants to  a  Commercial  and  Industrial  Feudality,  of  which  the 
East  India  company,  which  is  a  corporation  of  sovereign  mer- 
chants, presents  an  informal  germ.  This  tendency  of  commerce 
has  not  been  perceived,  because  the  age  has  entirely  neglected 
social  questions,  and  has  made  no  analysis  of  civilization  and 
of  the  commerccial  mechanism." 

§  II. 

An  entrance  into  the  fourth  Phasis  may  be  effected  in  various 
ways,  and  the  phasis  itself  may  vary  somewhat  in  character  in 
different  coutries.  We  will  examine  in  what  manner  a  change  of 
this  kind  could  be  effected, — first  in  Europe,  where  the  govern- 
ment itself  might  take  the  lead,  and  then  in  this  country,  where  it 
would  have  to  be  the  work  of  rich  individuals  or  stock-companies. 


FOURTH    PHAS1S.  319 

!  Let  us  suppose  that  some  monarch  or  influential  minister, 
wishing  to  pay  off  the  public  debt,  to  prevent  famines,  to 
guarantee  labor  to  the  working  classes  at  all  times,  and  to  do 
away  with  the  various  other  scourges  which  are  a  disgrace  to 
civilization  and  to  its  politicians,  who  believe  them  irremediable, 
is  fully  convinced  that  political  and  administrative  reforms  are 
ineffectual,  and  that  to  attain  positive  ameliorations,  a  reform 
in  industry  must  take  place.  A  change  of  this  kind  cannot 
succeed,  unless  it  is  based  upon  Agricultural  Association.  How 
should  the  first  Association,  which  would  serve  as  a  model  for 
others,  be  organized?  We  will  explain:  a  tract  of  land  of 
about  two  thousand  acres  should  be  selected  and  enclosed,  and 
in  the  centre  a  good  and  spacious  edifice,  sufficiently  large  to 
contain  five  hundred  persons,  should  be  erected,  with  granaries 
and  stables  in  the  vicinity. 

A  hundred  families,  say  five  hundred  persons,  should  be 
engaged,  who  would  be  paid  for  their  services  at  such  rates  as 
could  be  agreed  upon.  To  excite  an  additional  interest  on  the 
part  of  the  members  of  the  Association,  a  small  per-centage, 
deducted  from  the  general  product,  should  be  awarded  to  skill 
and  application.  The  value  of  the  land,  edifices,  flocks,  etc., 
should  be  appraised,  and  represented  by  stock,  divided  into 
shares,  as  is  at  present  the  capital  of  banks.  To  interest  the 
inhabitants  of  this  Associated  or  Government  farm  in  its  general 
prosperity,  a  certain  number  of  the  shares  might  be  set  aside, 
in  which  they  could  invest  their  capital,  if  they  had  any  on 
entering  it,  or  their  savings  accumulated  afterwards.  It  would 
be  to  the  advantage  of  the  Association  to  excite  a  spirit  of  pro- 
perty among  its  members.  If  an  individual  held  but  one  share, 


320  FOURTH    PHASIS.     , 

he  would  be  interested  in  all  its  operations,  as  is  the  smallest 
stockholder  in  those  of  a  bank ;  unity  of  interests  consequently 
would  exist.  A  farmer  at  present  is  indifferent  as  to  the  manner 
in  which  the  farms  around  him  are  cultivated,  but  in  this 
system  the  interest  on  his  shares  being  paid  out  of  the  general 
product  of  the  domain,  and  not  out  of  that  of  any  particular  por- 
tion of  it,  he  will  feel  an  interest  in  a  proper  cultivation  of  all 
its  parts. 

To  satisfy  the  great,  the  rich  and  the  leading  politicians,  who 
might  cry  out  against  this  monopoly,  this  intermeddling  of 
government  with  industry,  declaring  that  civilization  and  the 
virtues  of  the  isolated  family  were  in  danger,  the  Govern- 
ment would  allow  them  to  become  stockholders.  '  The  prospect 
of  becoming  leading  members  of  avast  Oligarchy  of  capital, 
which  would  offer  every  chance  of  stability  and  profitable  in- 
vestment, would  silence  their  clamors  and  induce  them  to  give 
it  their  approbation  and  support. 

Let  us  examine  some  of  the  details  of  the  system,  which  should 
be  followed  in  the  organization  of  these  Associations.  The  great 
object  to  be  attained  is  to  increase  the  product  of  agriculture,  (the 
best  means  of  augmenting  the  revenue  of  governments,)  and  to 
prevent  the  great  accumulation  of  manufacturing  populations  in 
a  few  cities.  Unity  of  action  and  interests  should  be  introduced, 
and  jointly  with  it  a  judicious  application  of  sexes  and  ages  to 
industry,  and  a  scientific  adaptation  of  soils  to  cultivation. 
The  contrast  between  the  industrial  organization  of  the  Asso- 
ciated farms,  with  their  wisely  planned  economies,  and  the  pre- 
sent desultory  and  ignorant  mode  of  farming,  which  is  a  miser- 
able system  of  complication  and  waste,  would  favorably 


FOURTH    PHASIS.  321 

impress  the  rural  populations  around  them,  and  condemn  in  their 
eyes  the  present  system  of  isolated  households.  Man  is  struck 
instinctively  with  operations  in  which  unity,  economy  and  order 
exist;  he  would  from  passion  follow  such  principles;  if  his  in- 
terests did  not  direct  him  otherwise. 

The  Association  with  its  five  hundred  inhabitants, — equal  to 
about  a  hundred  families,  would  not  have  a  hundred  kitchens 
and  a  hundred  fires.  One  large  kitchen,  well  provided  with 
every  convenience,  would  take  their  place.  This  would  eco- 
nomize the  labor  of  seven  eighths  of  the  women,  and  would 
leave  them  free  to  devote  themselves  to  more  attractive  and 
productive  occupations,  such  as  the  care  of  fruit  trees,  gar- 
dens, poultry,  etc.  This  distribution  of  occupations  would 
also  enable  the  men  to  employ  their  time  in  the  more  laborious 
branches  of  agriculture.  Children  should  take  part  in  all 
branches  of  industry,  in  which  they  could  save  the  labor  of 
grown  persons ;  they  are  by  nature  extremely  active,  and  in  a 
well  organized  system,  they  could  produce  more  than  men  do 
at  present  with  our  repugnant  and  desultory  mode  of  production. 

Various  branches  of  manufactures  should  be  established,  so  as 
to  afford  occupation  during  the  winter  months;  but  if  a  liberal 
spirit  prevailed  in  the  organization  of  the  first  Association,  they 
should  not  be  made  to  occspy  more  than  a  quarter  of  the  time 
of  the  inhabitants.  Great  care  ought  to  be  taken  to  prevent  the 
Association  from  degenerating  into  a  manufacturing  establish- 
ment. Agriculture  possesses  greater  charms  and  attractions 
than  manufactures,  and  for  the  comfort  and  happiness  of  those 
engaged  in  the  first  associated  farm — the  success  of  which  will 

21 


FOURTH    PHASIS. 

facilitate  the  establishment  of  others — a  preponderance  ought  to 
be  given  to  its  pursuits. 

jfi  A  very  important  source  of  profit  would  be  the  cultivation  of 
extensive  fruit-orchards.  Nothing  yields  a  better  profit,  or  is 
more  in  demand  than  good  fruit.  Civilization,  in  its  produc- 
tion, both  as  regards  quality  and  quantity,  is  miserably  deficient. 
It  is  a  luxury  which  the  rich  even  enjoy  scantily,  and  of  which 
the  poor  are  almost  entirely  deprived.  The  Association  there- 
fore should  have  extensive  fruit-orchards,  and  make  their  cul- 
tivation one  of  its  leading  occupations ;  it  is  a  labor  particularly 
adapted  to  women  and  children,  and  which  is  extremely  at- 
tractive. If  the  founders  of  the  Establishment  proceeded  wise- 
ly in  their  plans,  they  would  endeavor  by  an  introduction  of 
agreeable  branches  of  cultivation,  to>  awaken  a  liking  for  In- 
dustry ;  it  would  be  a  powerful  means-  of  increasing  the  product. 

The  cultivation  of  vast  quantities  ef  fruit  would  enable  the 
Association  to  organize  another  branch  of  industry — confec- 
tionary— which  is  equally  as  attractive,  and  which  could  also 
be  performed  by  women,  and  children*  We  inelude  in  this 
branch  the  drying  and  preserving  of  fruit  with  sugar,  prepara- 
tions of  jellies,  jams,  syrups,  cordials,  ete.  An  Association, 
like  the  one  described,  could  export  tons  of  preserved  fruit 
yearly ;  it  is  a  branch  of  industry  to  which  particular  attention 
should  be  paid  in  the  first  Association. 

The  government  should  not  neglect  such  important  sources 
of  profit  as  storage,  and  a  commission  and  banking  business* 
It  should  connect  with  the  farm,  a  store-house,  where  the 
farmers  in  the  vicinity  could  deposite  their  produce,  on  which 
advances  would  be  made,  and  which  the  association  would  sell 


FOURTH    PHASIS.  323 

on  commission.  It  would  have  for  that  purpose  correspondents 
in  one  or  two  large  commercial  towns.  The  most  important 
operation,  however,  would  be  the  establishing  of  a  Loaning 
fund  or  a  Bank  in  the  Association,  which,  besides  making  ad- 
vances like  the  above,  would  lend  on  bond  and  mortgage  to 
land  owners  in  the  vicinity.  This  would  give  the  establish- 
ment popularity  in  their  eyes,  aud  reduce  greatly  the  number  of 
money  lenders  on  a  small  scale,  who  are  now  so  numerous  in  the 
country.  A  bank  established  on  this  plan  would  be  the  com- 
mencement of  a  gradual  but  certain  absorption  of  the  soil  or 
landed  property.  As  these  government  farms  would  be  es- 
tablished rapidly,  and  in  proportion  of  one  to  ten  thousand  in- 
habitants, the  government  in  twenty  years  would,  through  these 
hanks,  become  proprietor  of  one  half  of  the  landed  property  of 
the  country.  Each  Association  would  gradually  absorb  the 
little  farms  and  pieces  of  land  around,  on  which  it  held  mort- 
gages, and  the  lands  of  persons  already  involved.  Their 
owners  could  join  the  Association  if  they  wjfched,  which  should 
offer  the  laborer  more  liberty  and  enjoyment  than  he  finds  in  his 
isolated  house— in  his  cabin  or  cottage. 

The  Association  having  great  amounts  of  products  to  sell  and 
a  great  many  to  buy,  would  do  also  its  own  commercial 
business.  It  would  have  its  agents  in  large  market  towns,  who 
iv, mill  sell  its  products  after  samples,  and  who  would  purchase 
at  wholesale  all  articles  wanted  by  the  Establishment';  it  would 
be  the  height  of  folly  to  purchase  of  country  merchants  at  twenty 
five  and  fifty  per  cent  advance,  when  it  could  save  so  large 
aa  intermediate  profit.  This  operation  would  cut  off  tho  retail 
country  merchants,  as  the  banks  of  the  Association  would  the 

21  * 


FOURTH    FHASIS. 

little  money  lenders,  and  that  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  large 
importing  merchants,  who  would  prefer  dealing  directly  with 
the  Associations,,  the  credit  of  which  would  be  undoubted. 
The  fourth  phasis  will  commence  its  monopoly  of  commerce  by 
first  attacking  the  retail  branch,  which  with  its  complication 
and  waste,  owing  to  the  expense  of  the  multiplicity  of  prin- 
cipals and  clerks,  of  stores  and  shops  which  it  requires,  is  a 
very  heavy  indirect  tax  upon  productive  industry.  It  may  be 
urged  that  the  impossibility  of  guarding  against  frauds,  would 
prevent  the  Associations  from  doing  their  own  commercial 
business.  This  however  will  not  be  the  case ;  let  combination 
and  unity  of  action  be  once  introduced  into  agriculture,  and  re- 
forms in  other  branches  of  industry  can  be  effected  with  very 
little  difficulty. 

"  We  have  supposed  the  founders  of  the  Association  actuated 
by  liberal  views.  This  is  of  much  more  importance  than  may 
at  first  be  thought,  for  upon  it  will  depend  the  facility  of 
rapidly  establishing  other  Associations.  If  the  management  of 
the  establishment  be  given  to  civilized  economists,  they  will 
most  probably  overtask  the  families  engaged  with  work,  retrench 
their  comforts,  give  them  poor  food,  and  introduce  a  strict  system 
of  labor.  They  would  not  only  fail  in  their  project  of  making 
the  ^Association  more  profitable,  but  would  render  it  an  object 
of  fright  to  the  country  around,  and  prevent  the  organization  of 
other  Associations." 

"It  would  be  found  the  best  and  wisest  policy  to  render  the 
first  establishment  as  agreeable  an  abode  as  possible,  and  the 
people  happy  in  it ; — as  happy  in  their  new  situation  as  they 
are  harassed  and  vexed  with  cares  and  troubles  in  their  isolated 


FOURTH    PHASIS.  325 

households;  so  that  with  full  liberty  of  leaving,  they  will  prefer 
remaining.  What  trouble  and  expense  will  be  requisite  to 
attain  this  result?  Scarcely  any;  it  would  only  be  necessary 
to  vary  occupations  three  or  four  times  a  day,  to  introduce  some 
of  the  stimulants  of  the  Series,  to  furnish  moveable  awnings  to 
the  Groups  of  gardeners  to  shield  them  from  the  hot  sun,  to  make 
an  advance  of  working  dresses  to  each  individual,  which  would 
be  paid  out  of  the  general  product,  to  establish  a  large  nursery 
for  children  with  every  convenience,  which  would  conduce  very 
much  to  the  comfort  and  relief  of  mothers,  who,  if  poor,  are 
perfect  slaves  in  civilization.  A  sufficiency  must  also  be 
guaranteed  to  every  person,  so  as  to  do  away  with  all  anxiety 
for  the  future.  Through  such  means  a  corporative  spirit  could 
be  aroused  in  the  Association,  and  a  charm  spread  over  its 
system  of  discipline,  which  ought  to  be  as  mild  as  possible, 
but  which  is  indispensable  in  all  assemblages,  where  the  great  lever 
if  industrial  Attraction,  tie  passional  Serie  does  not  exist," 

"These  Associations  would  prove  practically  the  utter  false- 
ness of  our  civilized  prejudices,  which  make  us  consider 
constraint  and  want  as  necessary  to  stimulate  and  force  the 
mass  to  labor.  Have  we  not  found — the  opinions  of  ancient 
moralists  and  philosophers  to  the  contrary  —  the  means  of 
substituting  personal  liberty  of  servants  in  the  place  of  the 
chains  and  punishments  of  slaves  in  antiquity!  It  is  time  the 
modern  world  should  rid  itself  of  the  prejudice,  which  makes  it 
believe  that  vexatious  privations  and  moral  curbs  are  the  only 
guarantees  of  the  submission  of  the  working  classes  and  of  their 
perseverance  in  labor." 

If   the  demands  and  requirements    of   human  nature  were 


326  FOURTH  PHASIS. 

carefully  studied,  these  practical  trials  of  Association  might 
lead  to  the  discovery  of  the  means  of  rendering  industry  attractive, 
or  of  organizing  it  in  such  a  way  as  to  induce  its  free  and 
spontaneous  exercise.  Approximations  to  the  organization  of 
the  Series  might  be  made,  the  emulation  and  rivalries  of  which 
would  replace  such  stimulants  as  pecuniary  want,  the  necessity 
of  providing  for  a  family  and  anxiety  for  the  future.  Man  wonld 
then  approach  the  solution  of  one  of  the  greatest  problems  of  his 
destiny, — Attractive  Industry,  or  the  introduction  of  liberty  in 
labor  ! 

Associations  like  the  above  would  rapidly  bring  about  the 
great  result  which  is  to  characterize  the  fourth  phasis,  to  wit, 
the  introduction  of  economy  and  order  into  commerce  and 
agriculture.  This  operation  would  replace  the  frauds,  wastes 
and  excesses,  which  result  from  the  action  of  isolated  in- 
dividuals, by  a  well  planned  system  in  production  and  exchanges. 
The  business  transactions  of  society  could  be  amazingly  simpli- 
fied, if  sales  and  purchases  took  place  directly  between  large 
Associations  instead  of  separate  families,  operating  on  the 
smallest  possible  scale. 

An  Association,  it  is  evident,  would  not  adulterate  its  products, 
— would  not  overtrade,  contract  bad  debts,  or  fall  constantly 
into  those  excesses,  which  characterize  the  commercial  and 
financial  operations  of  civilization ;  at  least  it  would  possess 
every  means  of  guarding  against  them. 

If  Associations  of  five  hundred  persons  were  deemed  too  large 

•» 
and  expensive,  thegsame  results,  as  far  as  relates  to  the  regulation 

of  industry,  could  be  obtained  by  commencing  on  a  more  res- 
tricted and  economical  scale.  Smaller  establishments,  say  of 


FOURTH    FHAS1S. 


two  hundred  persons  each,  might  be  organized.  As  they  would 
be  less  attractive  and  profitable  on  account  of  the  number,  a  strict 
system  of  economy  and  labor  would  be  necessary;  each  in- 
dividual! would  have  his  duty  assigned  him,  the  performance 
of  which  would  be  punctually  required.  Such  a  system  is 
adapted  .to  Europe  with  its  starving  populations.  The  poorer 
portion  t>f  the  rural  classes  could  be  collected  in  these  Associa- 
tions, which  would  be  farms  of  refuge,  where  all  destitute 
families  could  find  an  asylum  and  employment.  The  farms, 
and  all  purchases  and  sales  of  products  being  under  the  control 
of  government,  it  could  introduce  regularity,  order  and  honesty 
into  commerce  or  the  exchanges  of  products,  which  is  so  far 
from  being  the  case  at  present.  ;,  «j  ,t, 

As  civilization,  witk  its  instinct  of  selfishness,  considers  the 
isolated  family  life  the  perfection  of  existence,  another  method 
could  be  adopted,  which  would  introdaice  combination  into, 
agricultural  operations,  and  leave  the  present  household  organiza- 
tion as  it  is.  Agricultural  Association  could  take  place  separate 
from  domestic  Association.  In  this  case  the  system  of  isolated 
households,  as  it. now  exists,  could  be  continued,  and  combina- 
tion would  only  be  introduced  in  purchases  and  sales,  in  storage, 
planting,  harvesting,  etc.  Such  a  system  would  merely  require  a 
large  rural  Edifice  with  which  a  store,  depots,  granaries  and  some 
branches  of  manufactures  would  be  connected.  A  large  farm 
ought  to  be  attacked  to  it,  cultivated  in  such  a  way  as  to  be 
a  model  of  good  fanning.  The  agricultural  populations  around 
could  find  work  in  these  large  establishments,  as  the  manufactur- 
ing populations  now  do  in  our  large  manufactories.  In  fact  the 


\ 

328  FOURTH    PHASIS. 

system  which  has  resulted  from  large  capitalists  embarking  in 
manufactures,  would  be  extended  to  agriculture. 

The  families  living  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Establishment,  would 
find  it  greatly  to  their  advantage  to  deal  with  and  transact  all 
their  business  through  it.  The  Establishment  would  be  a  general 
agent ;  it  would  receive  their  produce  on  deposit,  which  it 
would  sell  at  the  most  favorable  time,  and  to  the  best  advantage. 
This  system  of  storage  and  sales  would  save  a  great  many 
families  the  expense  of  barns,  and  ensure  greater  safety  against 
fire.  They  could  hire  teams  at  fair  rates  of  the  Establishment 
(which  would  be  well  supplied  with  them)  to  put  in  their  crops 
a'nd  transport  their  produce  to  the  store-houses.  The  Establish- 
ment could  give  occupation  to  a  great  many  persons  during  the 
winter  months  in  its  workshops,  besides  the  amount  of  labor, 
which  it  would  require  during  the  summer  in  the  cultivation 
of  its  lands.  With  the  exception  of  a  certain  number  of  hands 
regularly  engaged,  this  labor  could  be  performed  by  members 
of  families  in  the  neighborhood  whose  entire  time  was  not  taken 
up  in  the  cultivation  of  their  own  farms. 

The  Establishment  should  render  itself  popular;  it  should 
excite  a  liking  for  its  system  of  combination  and  unity  of  action. 
and  tend  to  extend  the  spirit  of  Association  to  ike  household  or- 
ganization or  family  life.  It  should  have  a  banking  fund  to 
make  advances  on  produce  deposited,  and  to  lend  on  mortgage. 
The  ulterior  object  of  the  undertaking  would  be  to  absorb  the 
soil  and  organize  large  domains  cultivated  systematically; 
for  so  long  as  the  present  incoherent  system  of  farming- 
continues,  which  establishes  conflict  and  opposition  of  interests 
in  the  very  foundation  of  industry,  it  is  impossible  to  introduce 


FOURTH    PHASIS. 


economy  and  order  into  the  superstructure,  into  commerce, 
manufactures,  the  domestic  organization,  etc. 

"Whatever  direction  the  fourth  phasis  may  take,  observes 
Fourier,  it  will  offer  to  old  governments,  like  those  of  Europe, 
the  following  important  advantages." 

1st.  "To  force  the  scum  of  the  population  —  the  portion 
which  is  reduced  to  beggary  and  all  kinds  of  shifts  to  live  —  to 
join  the  farms,  where  they  could  always  find  work." 

3d.  "To  greatly  facilitate  fiscal  and  administrative  opera- 
tions." 

3d.  "To  diminish  city  populations  by  offering  them  induce- 
ments to  join  the  farms,  where  agricultural  and  manufacturing 
operations  would  be  combined." 

4th.  "To  extirpate  indigence  and  beggary,  for  no  beggar  in 
health  could  pretend  to  be  out  of  work  ;  as  to  the  infirm,  arrange- 
ments would  be  made  with  the  farms  to  support  them." 

5th.  "To  aid  essentially  poor  families  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  the  Association  ;  for  the  farms  could  give  them  employment 
at  seasons,  when  they  are  out  of  work." 

6th.  "To  metamorphose  the  whole  commercial  system,  and 
give  it  an  economical  and  methodic  organization,  so  as  to 
prevent  its  controlling  industry  and  the  political  power." 

7th.  "Lastly,  to  aid  efficaciously  in  the  promotion  of  public 
health  ;  first,  by  the  prevention  of  contagious  diseases,  which 
are  generated  and  spread  by  the  dirt  and  privations  of  destitute 
families;  and  second,  by  an  amelioration  of  climate,  which  can 
only  be  effected  by  the  combined  action  of  Associations,  the 
labors  of  which  would  be  directed  by  a  central  power,  —  that  of 
the  government." 


330 


"It  is  evident  that  most  governments  would  be  strongly  in- 
clined to  this  innovation,  even  in  case  a  coercive  system,  like 
..he  rigorous  discipline  of  poor-house  farms,  were  to  be  adopted. 
The  contractors,  stockholders  and  officers  of  the  associated 
farms,  which  covered  the  country,  would  form  a  monied 
oligarchy  or  aristocracy,  something  like  those  of  Venice  and 
Berne.  The  populations  of  the  fourth  Age  would  be- silenced 
perfectly  under  the  pretext  of  public  order  and  morality.  The 
contractors  would  keep  fifty  or  hundred  writers  in  pay  to  prove 
that  this  new  oligarchy  was  the  perfection  of  civilization,  which 
would  be  the  truth,  for  it  would  be  the  highest  progress  of  which 
this  society  is  capable,  the  fourth  Phasis  in  all  its  purity." 


.<:  - 


FOURTH    PHASIS.  331 


CHAPTER  TWENTY-THIRD. 


Lei  us  now  turn  our  attention  to  this  country.  It  may  be 
supposed  that  our  republican  institutions  will  effectually  pre- 
vent the  establishment  of  an  aristocracy  of  wealth  and  a 
financial  power,  which  will  at  a  later  period  control  both  In- 
dustry and  the  Administration. 

Our  form  of  government  cannot,  however,  arrest  the  social 
movement  which  is  tending  in  this  country,  as  it  is  in  Europe, 
towards  a  vast  combination  in  industry,  commerce  and  finance, 
— a  combination  which  we  have  designated  under  the  name  of 
Commercial  feudality.  The  social  movement  is  much  deeper 
than  the  political  movement ;  as  the  former  rolls  on  in  its  course, 
it  carries  with  it  administrative  measures  and  political  institu- 
tions, as  a  stream  carries  current  objects  floating  on  its  surface, 

It  is  a  general  belief  Chat  great  social  changes  must  be 
gradual,  that  neither  human  science  nor  human  power  can  con* 
trol  them,  and  that  man  to  organize  a  more  perfect  system  of 
society,  must  go  through  a  regular  series  of,  social  transforma- 
tions. If  it  be  asserted  that  this  is  the  only  mode  of  progress, 
which  is  reserved  for  the  human  race,  then  we  declare  the  asser- 
tion erroneous.  Nature — not  trusting  the  fulfilment  of  her  plans 


332  FOURTH    PHAS1S. 

to  human  science  or  to  the  efforts  of  individuals — has  implanted 
in  man  an  instinct  of  social  progress,  which,  it  is  true,  will  lead 
him  through  a  series  of  transformations,  to  the  attainment  of 
his  Destiny;  but  she  has  also  reserved  for  his  intelligence  the 
noble  prerogative  of  hastening  this  progress,  and  of  anticipating 
results,  which,  if  left  to  the  gradual  movement  of  society, 
would  require  centuries  to  effect.  Social  progress  therefore 
may  be  effected  by  instinct  or  by  genius. 

If,  as  we  believe,  a  true  system  of  society  remains  to  be  dis- 
covered, which  will  relieve  mankind  from  their  present  misery, 
there  can  be  no  need  of  waiting  to  be  forced  to  it  by  necessity 
and  suffering;  provided  the  elements,  which  are  necessary  to  its 
organization,  have  been  called  into  existence,  and  that  the  laws 
upon  which  it  is  based  can  be  discovered. 

The  first  progress  of  the  human  race  is  to  develop  industry 
and  the  arts  and  sciences ;  the  second  is  to  combine  them  and 
found  Association. 

The  first  progress, — the  development  of  industry,  has  to  be 
accomplished  by  the  action  of  strong  governments,  that  is  by 
political  tyranny ;  and  no  other  alternative  is  left  to  the  race. 

The  second  progress, — the  organization  of  association — will 
be  accomplished  by  the  sway,  the  power  of  capital ;  provided 
the  political  world  is  guided  merely  by  that  instinct  of  progress 
of  which  we  have  just  spoken,  or  in  other  words,  if  instead  of 
directing  the  social  movement,  it  suffers  itself  to  be  dragged 
along  by  it.  Let  us  examine  briefly  why  this  double  progress 
has  to  be  coerced  by  a  double  force  or  tyranny. 

So  long  as  labor  is  repugnant,  is  a  burden,  man  avoids  it  as 
a  scourge.  When  populations  increase,  and  nations  are  formed, 


FOURTH    PHASIS.  333 

the  mass  must  resort  to  labor  to  live ;  but  they  have  to  be  forced 
to  it  by  the  alternative  of  want  and  suffering,  as  they  would 
never  undergo  it  voluntarily.  If  the  strong  arm  of  political 
power  did  not  keep  them  in  check,  their  poverty  and  dislike  for 
labor  would  induce  them  to  rob  the  rich  and  disperse — going 
back  to  a  nomadic  life,  or  to  the  forming  of  hordes,  to  which 
the  instinct  of  the  oppressed  multitude  tends.  *  Governments 
could  not  be  maintained  for  the  reason  that  industry  is  re- 
pugnant, and  man  would  perpetually  remain  in  a  rude  or  savage 
state.  As  industry  can  only  be  developed  by  the  persistence 
of  the  mass  in  labor, — which  persistence  must  be  coerced  by 
the  action  of  strong  governments,  so  that  no  alternative  but  to 
starve  or  work  is  left  them,  it  is  clear  that  the  first  progress 
of  mankind  is  accomplished  by  political  oppression.  This  op- 
pression is  particularly  intense  in  the  commencement  of  so- 
cieties, when  very  few  facilities  for  performing  labor  exist,  and 
before  implements  of  industry  are  discovered.  As  a  proof  of 
the  fact,  we  find  that  in  the  barbarian  state,  which  may  be 
considered  the  first  industrial  society,  the  laboring  multitude 
are  enslaved  and  forced  to  their  tasks  by  violence  and  punish- 
ments. 

*  Great  efforts  arc  made  to  establish  order  in  Greece  and  to  ci- 
vilize it;  the  truth  is  that  her  populations,  disgusted  with  industry, 
tend  strongly  to  the  formation  of  hordes,  which  offer  to  the  op- 
pressed mass  a  more  pleasing  and  adventurous  life  than  they  find  in 
the  repugnant  labor  of  civilization.  The  populations  of  Turkey  and 
various  parts  of  Asia  arc  retrograding  and  forming  hordes ;  the 
horde  is  the  ruin  of  countries  whose  industry  is  worn  out  by  ex- 
cesses, and  whose  political  power  is  weakened.  The  horde*  is  ap 
pearing  at  points  in  Europe,  in  Sicily  and  Calabria. 


FOURTH    PHASIS. 


The  second  progress — the  organizing  of  Association — mast, 
it  is  evident,  be  undertaken  by  governments  or  the  rich;  the 
laboring  multitude,  whose  daily  labor  is  their  daily  subsistence, 
cannot  think  of  undertaking  any  such  general  measure.  It  is 
therefore  left  to  the  former,  who,  in  founding  association  or  ap- 
proximations to  it,  will  of  course  only  consult  their  own  par- 
ticular interests,  and  make  such  use  of  the  mass  and  their 
labor  as  self-interest  dictates.  Man  will  more  than  ever  be 
considered  an  object  of  speculation  and  a  machine  of  produc- 
tion. Strict  discipline  and  a  closely  calculating  system  of 
economy — to  which  an  appearance  of  freedom  will  be  given, 
because  the  laborer  through  want  or  destitution  assents  to  it — 
will  hamper  personal  liberty,  and  leave  but  little  freedom  in 
the  disposal  of  time,  and  in  the  choice  of  occupations. 

With  the  present  anarchical  development  of  industry,  organi- 
zation and  order  are  evident  wants.  If  politicians  have  not 
the  talent  to  effect  a  reform  so  much  required ;  if  they  have 
not  the  perspicuity  to  perceive  that  the  discussion  of  Social 
questions  should  take  the  place  of  the  present  sterile  party  con- 
troversies ,  capital  and  commerce  will  bring  about  by  instinct 
what  they  should  have  done  by  intelligence ;  they  will  gradu- 
ally organize  the  fourth  Phasis  of  civilization  with  its  system 
of  general  monopoly  and  false  association.  This  second  im- 
portant social  progresss  will  be  accomplished  by  the  grasping 
tendency  or  tyranny  of  capital. 

Thus  the  human  race,  to  accomplish  their  Destiny,  have  to 
be  urged  on  by  force ;  the  paths  which  lead  to  it  are  so  rugged, 
and  the  obstacles  to  be  overcome  are  so  great,  that  the  at- 
tainment would  be  abandoned,  if  the  double  power — the  po- 


FOURTH    PHAS19.  335 

litical  and  the  monied,  and  the  interests  of  those  who-  wield  it, 
— did  not  force  the  mass  to  surmount  those  obstacles. 

An  other  important  feet  connected*  with  the  social  progress 
of  mankind  is  that  unless  the  foundation  of  society — the  in 
dustrial  organization — is  rightly  laid,  political  wars  and  revolu- 
tions, if  undertaken  even  for  liberty  and  freedom,  do  not  lead 
to  any  real  progress.  The  history  of  the  past  proves  fhis; 
antiquity  sank  under  its  political  commotions,  and  Europe  ha» 
had  to  commence  anew  the  great  work  of  developing  industry 
and  of  preparing  the  materials  necessary  for  Association. 

If  populations  throw  off  the  yoke  of  one  form  of  political 
tyranny,  if  they  obtain  their  freedom  in  barbarian  societies,  or 
in  the  first,  second  and  third  ages-  of  civilization,  when  industry 
is  without  organization,  when  poverty,  selfishness  and  con- 
flict of  interest  exist,  they  obtain  no  permanent  ameliorations, 
New  chiefs  or  leaders  arise,  who  secure  their  own  interests 
at  the  expense  of  those  of  the  mass,  whos«  rights  and  liberties 
they  trample  anew  under  foot,  if  it  be  necessary  to  the  attain- 
ment of  their  ends.  The  condition  of  the  mass  can  only  be 
ameliorated  by  social  or  industrial  reforms,  and  not  at  all  by 
political  one» — we  see  in  conseqnence  that  Nations,  after  the 
most  persevering  combats  for  a  better  condition  of  things,  sink 
into  some  new  tyranny,  without  having  attained  any  important 
end. 

But  if  Industry  be  organized,  if  populations  have  a  true 
foundation  to  stand  upon,  if  combination  and  unity  of  interests 
unite  them,  as  the  conflicts  of  those  interests  now  divide  them, 
important  reforms  and  ameliorations  can  easily  h<?  effected. 
Hence  the  importance  of  first  giving  a  true  organization  to  In- 


FOURTH    PHAS1S. 

dustry,  and  of  introducing  into  the  foundation  of  the  Social  com' 
pact,  order,  equilibrium  und  unity  of  interests.  When  a  true 
basis  is  laid,  we  may  hope  to  organise  a  true  Political  system 
in  which  the  minority  will  not  be  plundered  by  a  small  ma- 
jority, and  the  weaker  interest  sacrifized  to  the  stronger.  We 
may  even  hope  more, — we  may  hope  to  establish  a  society  in 
which  the  misery  and  injustice  which  new  exist  under  a 
thousand  forms,  and  which  we  falsely  believe  to  be  inherent  in 
human  nature,  will  be  effectually  done  away  with. 

In  the  present  state  of  things  an  agrarian,  or  political  revolu- 
tion of  the  mass  would  lead  to  no  social  progress.  Could 
governments,  on  the  other  hand,  resist  effectually  the  encroach- 
ment of  the  monied  power,  the  advent  of  the  fourth  Phasis,  it 
would  not  be  either  a  means  of  advancing  society.  It  would 
only  retard  the  social  movement;  keep  society  in  the  third 
phasis,  which,  with  a  dense  population,  is  the  most  suffering 
epoch  of  civilization.  All  things  considered,  it  is  best  there- 
fore to  move  onward,  even  should  it  be  through  one  more  trial, 
through  a  period  of  degrading  pecuniary  dependency  and  the 
tyranny  of  capital. 

We  have  before  remarked  that  the  two  extreme  phases  of 
civilization,  the  first  and  the  fourth,  are  characterized  by  a 
Feudality.  That  of  the  first  phasis  resulted  from  a  direct  ac- 
quisition of  the  soil.  The  military  chiefs  possessed  them- 
selfes  of  it  by  force,  and  divided  it  among  their  followers,  mak- 
ing serfs  of  the  populations.  The  Feudality  of  the  last  age  of 
civilization  will  result  from  an  indirect  acquisition  ef  the  soil. 
Capitalists  and  companies  will  gradually  absorb  it  by  the 
wealth,  which  they  acquire  in  commercial,  banking  arid  other 


FOURTH    PHASIS.  337 

intermediate  operations.  The  mass  without  property  will, 
under  this  new  Feudality,  be  collectively  dependent  upon  the 
powerful  companies  and  great  bankers,  who  have  in  their  pos- 
session the  landed  property,  manufactories,  etc.,  as  were  the 
serfs  in  the  first  Feudality,  upon  the  Nobles. 

The  tendency  of  the  third,  towards  the  fourth  Phasis  of 
civilization,  is  stronger  in  this  country  than  in  Europe,  and  for 
the  reason  that  the  commercial,  financial  and  industrial  spirit, 
which  is  the  means  of  working  out  this  change,  is  without 
checks  and  rivals;  the  checks  in  Europe  are  the  military 
spirit  and  the  titled  nobility;  both  of  which,  however,  are 
yielding  their  influence  to  the  present  great  industrial  move- 
ment, which  is  sweeping  everything  before  it. 

We  have  already  organized,  under  the  name  of  Trust  Com- 
panies, institutions  which  are  one  form  of  the  first  germ  of 
the  fourth  Phasis — Agricultural  Loaning  companies.  These 
institutions  possess  the  proper  organization  for  a  slow  and  gra- 
dual acquisition  of  the  landed  property  of  the  country.  They 
receive  the  surplus  profits,  which  arise  from  commercial,  bank- 
ing and  other  operations,  and  which  the  owners  wish  to  invest 
safely  in  mortgages.  Every  new  revulsion  in  the  business 
world  will  tend  more  strongly  to  make  capital  seek  investment 
in  landed  securities,  and  will  hasten  the  movement,  which  is 
destined  to  dispossess  the  agricultural  populations  of  their  pro- 
perty in  the  soil. 

The  operations  of  these  companies  are  not  suspended,  like 
those  of  an  individual,  by  death  or  any  other  accident;  but 

under  the  direction  of  a  capable  board  of  directors,  are  erer 

oo 


FOURTH   PHASIS. 

watchful  and  ever  on  the  alert  to  carry  out  their  grasping  and 
rapacious  policy. 

Those  companies  can  be  indefinitely  increased  in  the  State  of 
New  York  under  the  General  Banking  Law,  of  which  we 
have  already  spoken.  The  main  feature  of  these  new  Institu- 
tions is  to  make  real  estate  the  hasis  of  a  circulating  medium, — 
make  it  convertible  property,  represented  by  stock  and  paper- 
money.  This  system  brings  the  landed  property  directly  under 
the  sway  of  capitalists  and  bankers,  and  will  probably  be  an 
important  aid  in  the  process  of  absorbing  the  landed  estate  of 
the  country,  which  is  now  mostly  held  by  those  who  cultivate 
it.  If  other  states  do  not  introduce  the  same,  or  some  similar 
system,  other  schemes  will  be  devised,  and  there  will  be  n& 
repose  to  that  restless,  rapacious,  grasping  spirit,  which  is  now 
awake,  until  the  entire  fundamental  property  of  society, — the 
soil,  manufactories,  etc.,  is  absorbed,  and  until  the  whole  fabric 
of  free  competition,  of  licensed  fraud  and  intermediate  rapine , 
sinks  by  its  own  excesses  into  a  vast  monopoly,  with  its  false 
regulative  system,  and  its  coerced  combination  of  action. 

It  is  altogether  probable  that  the  organizing  of  large  Rural 
Establishments  and  the  founding  of  Associations  will  be  the 
work  of  stock-companies  in  this  country.  Should  some  power- 
ful company  become  possessor  of  an  extensive  tract  of  land, 
perhaps  of  an  entire  county,  and  should  it  find  that  the  farms, 
leased  out  to  tenants,  yielded  but  a  poor  return  on  the  money  in- 
vested, (for  with  the  present  desultory  and  incoherent  system 
of  farming,  lands  at  their  present  valuation  pay  but  a  poor  rate 
of  interest,)  that  the  rents  were  with  difficulty  collected,  and 
that  the  land  was  neglected  or  worn  out,  the  Company  might, 


FOURTH    FHASIS.  339 

to  increase  its  profits  and  to  improve  its  lands,  undertake  the 
organization  of  large  Agricultural  establishments,  similar  to 
some  one  of  the  three,  which  we  have  described,  or  upon  some 
analogous  plan.  It  is  of  very  little  consequence  by  what 
means  a  commencement  is  made ;  it  would  soon  lead  to  the  de- 
sired end — to  the  introduction  of  combination  into  agriculture. 
It  is  to  this  branch  of  industry  that  Association  must  first  be 
applied  in  order  to  introduce  it  into  other  branches,  and  particu- 
larly into  commerce.  Thus  some  large  company  may  realize 
the  project,  which  we  have  supposed  in  Europe  executed  by  a 
Government.  It  is  singular  that  it  has  not  been  thought  of. 
If  our  financiers  were  not  so  much  absorbed  in  stock,  banking 
and  other  operations, — operations  which  require  neither  deep 
thought  nor  calculation,  but  merely  intrigue  and  command  of 
capital, — some  vast  undertaking  like  the  above  would  have 
been  planned  and  executed. 

Agricultural  Association,  which  is  entirely  overlooked,  and 
which  in  its  early  commencement,  may  appear  of  but  little 
importance,  will  be  the  means  of  bringing  about  a  fundamental 
change  in  our  whole  industrial,  commercial  and  financial  sys- 
tem, and  as  a  consequence  in  the  social  organization  itself.  It 
would  be  the  most  prompt  method  of  giving  an  onward  move- 
ment to  society,  and  would  in  a  few  years  produce  great  and 
beneficial  results.  We  therefore  say,  if  the  age  has  not  the  in- 
telligence to  undertake  a  scientific  organization  of  Association, 
then  let  it  be  commenced  in  some  way,  even  though  it  be  by 
that  instinct  of  monopoly  and  extortion,  which  is  inherent  in 

capital,  commerce  and  finance. 

*4l   IJ/.  »\y.   MA) 

22* 


340  TRANSITION. 


TRANSITION  TO  THE  PRACTICAL  ORGANI- 
ZATION OF  ASSOCIATION. 

___ 

CHAPTER  TWENTY-FOURTH. 

SOCIAL   INFANCY    OF   THE    HUMAN    RACE. 

To  comprehend  the  Destiny  of  Man  and  the  pos- 
sibility of  a  great  Transformation  from  the  present 
state  of  poverty,  suffering  and  social  subversion  to 
social  happiness  and  unity,  the  mind  must  elevate 
itself  to  see  nothing  great  and  nothing  small  in  the 
Universe, — to  reflect  upon  the  career  of  the  whole 
human  race  on  the  pla.iet  as  it  would  upon  that  of  a 
single  individual.  The  same  Serial  law,  wfth  its 
false  and  harmonic  action,  or  with  its  Transitions 
and  its  Organic  movement,  governs  the  one  as  well  as 
the  other, — governs  the  organic  existence  of  the 
smallest  insect  as  it  does  that  of  the  most  mighty 
sun ! 

Why  have  not  men  of  science  comprehended  the 
Destiny  of  man?  why  have  they  not  been  able  to  ex- 
plain the  cause  of  his  being,  of  his  existence  upon 
the  earth  1 

It  is  because  they  have  not  speculated  or  reasoned 
upon  the  entire  social  career  of  mankind ;  because 
they  have  not  embraced  in  their  view  the  whole  Serie 
through  which  the  race  are  to  pass.  AH  the  conclu- 


TRANSITION.  341 

sions  at  which  they  have  arrived,  are  deduced  from 
the  past  existence  of  mankind, — a  past  existence 
which  is  but  the  first  part  or  a  mere  fragment  of  their 
entire  career, — and  the  views,  which  they  have  pro- 
mulgated on  man  and  the  universe,  are  as  limited  as 
the  circumscribed  field  of  observation  from  which 
they  have  been  drawn. 

In  the  narrow  circle  in  which  men  of  science 
reason,  in  their  ignorance  of  the  Laws  which  regulate 
the  Social  and  Organic  Movements,  they  cannot  fore- 
see the  transformations  and  organic  changes,  which 
must  necessarily  take  place  as  mankind  develop  them- 
selves. The  indications  that  the  present  social  sub- 
version and  suffering  may  give  way  to  an  era  of 
social  harmony  and  happiness,  are  not  apparent,  it 
is  true,  from  present  facts;  but  our  scientific  leaders 
should  have  discovered  that  Duality  of  Movement 
was  a  Law  of  the  Universe,  that  principles  of  con- 
cord and  unity  existed  in  man,  and  that  the  passions 
were  subject  to  a  two-fold  mode  of  development,  one 
of  which  is  true,  and  the  other  false.  They  would  then 
have  seen  that  the  false  and  discordant  direction, 
which  the  passions  receive  in  our  present  societies, 
may  be  replaced  by  their  true  and  harmonic  develop- 
ment, and  that  when  Uie  change  takes  place,  it  must 
necessarily  be  a  great  Transition, 

The  human  race  are  now  in  their  childhood, — in 
the  Ascending  Transition  or  first  period  of  their 
existence  upon  the  globe;  during  this  period  they 
are  ignorant  of  their  destiny,  of  the  social  system 


342  TRANSITION. 

adapted  to  their  passions,  and  of  the  laws  of  order 
and  harmony  which  govern  the  Universe.  As 
men  are  not  aware  of  this  state  of  Social  infancy, 
they  look  upon  the  past  career  of  mankind  as  the 
true  or  natural  condition  of  their  existence,  and  they 
believe  that  the  state  of  discord,  suffering  and  trouble, 
which  characterizes  the  Transition,  is  to  continue 
during  the  entire  course  of  iheir  career. 

We  have  explained  with  sufficient  clearness,  we 
believe,  in  Chapter  Sixteenth,  that  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  existence  of  all  beings  and  creatures, 
there  is  a  period  of  suffering,  weakness  and  ignor- 
ance. This  period  forms  the  Ascending  transition  of 
the  existence,  and  comprizes  a  small  portion  of  it, 
like  an  eighth,  sixteenth,  thirty  second  or  less.  It 
is  a  period  of  false  or  subversive  action,  and  is  an 
Exception  to  the  General  law,  the  action  of  which 
is  true  and  harmonic.  Wherever  the  Harmonic 
Movement  does  not  exist,  the  Subversive  necessarily 
must,  for  complete  Inertia  is  an  abstraction.  Plea- 
sure accompanies  the  Harmonic  movement,  as  Pain 
accompanies  the  Subversive. 

Let  us  illustrate  this  view  by  an  example,  for  its 
clear  comprehension  is  important.  At  the  com- 
mencement of  the  life  of  man, — in  his  childhood  or 
the  ascending  transition  of  his  existence,  we  find 
physical  and  intellectual  weakness.  Before  the  child 
accustoms  itself  to  the  world  in  which  it  is  to  live, — 
to  its  food  and  air,  it  goes  through  a  variety  of  dis- 


TRANSITION.  343 

eases  or  sufferings,  such  as  teething  and  cholics ; — 
and  during  the  first  years  of  its  young  age,  its  mind 
cannot  elevate  itself  to  comprehend  the  laws  and 
system  of  the  Universe.  This  double  weakness  is,  how- 
ever, only  an  Exception  to  the  general  course  of 
man's  life,  for  if  he  lives  as  his  physical  organization 
requires,  (which  he  does  not  in  civilization,)  he  will 
enjoy  on  the  one  hand  a  long  career  of  health, — with 
here  and  there  a  few  exceptions,  which  only  serve 
to  confirm  the  general  rule, — and  if  he  attains  the 
age  of  puberty,  he  will  throw  off  on  the  other  hand 
his  intellectual  weakness,  and  gain  the  power  of 
comprehending  God,  the  Universe  and  Destinies. 

Why  do  poverty  and  suffering  exist  in  the  world? 
why  does  a  false  and  discordant  action  reign  in  so- 
ciety? This  question  is  answered  above:  it  is  be- 
cause the  human  race  are  young  upon  the  planet  ; 
because  they  are  in  their  infancy,  or  in  the  first  or 
transitory  period  of  their  social  career, — a  period  of 
physical  weakness  and  mental  ignorance.  This  is 
the  simple  explanation  of  the  past  and  present  slate 
of  social  evil  and  misfortune ;  and  in  this  explana- 
tion is  contained  the  proof  that  a  great  social  change 
must  take  place,  and  that  to  the  present  social  in- 
coherence and  suffering,  social  harmony  and  happi- 
ness must  succeed,  for  it  is  a  transition  inherent  in 
the  Law  of  Duality  of  movement,  or  two-fold  mode  of 
development,  which  forms  a  part  of  the  laws  of  Uni- 
versal movement. 


344  TRANSITION. 

We  explained  (in  note  page  74)  that  as  soon  as 
the  human  race  have  developed  Industry  sufficiently 
to  organize  industrial  Association,  and  apply  the 
mechanism  of  the  Groups  and  Series  to  agricultural 
and  manufacturing  occupations,  (which  mechanism 
is  so  perfectly  adapted  to  the  passions,  that  they  seek 
an  outlet  in  all  branches  of  human  activity  or  opera- 
tions organized  according  to  them,)  a  social  change 
can  take  place.  Industry  was  developed  sufficiently 
over  twenty  centuries  since  to  admit  of  the  applica- 
tion of  the  Serial  mechanism  to  it,  and  the  organiza- 
tion of  Association.  The  total  neglect  from  the  age 
of  Socrates  down  to  the  present  time,  of  the  great 
and  fundamental  question  of  Industry  and  its  organi- 
zation, upon  which  depends  the  physical  wellfare  of 
the  human  race,  is  a  disgrace  to  the  superficial 
science  and  politics  of  civilization. 


DIFFERENT    METHODS   OF  MAKING    ETC.  345 


CHAPTER  TWENTY-FIFTH. 

. 

DIFFERENT    METHODS   OF    MAKING    A   PRACTICAL  TRIAL  OF 
ASSOCIATION. 


A  practical  trial  of  Association,  which  would  test  the  ques- 
tion whether  Industry,  exercised  by  Groups  and  Series,  could 
be  rendered  attractive,  might  be  made  in  various  ways  and 
upon  a  larger  or  a  smaller  scale. 

The  most  economical  and  prompt  plan  would  be  to  found  an 
Association  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  to  four  hundred  children, 
between  the  ages  of  four  and  fourteen. 

Such  an  Association  might  be  established  as  an  Institutionfor 
the  Industrial  and  Scientific  Education  of  Youth.  The  advantages 
which  it  would  affer  even  to  the  most  wealthy  classes,  who 
have  every  means  of  giving  their  children  the  best  education 
which  they  can  at  present  receive,  are  so  great,  that  if  they 
could  be  made  to  understand  them,  a  stock-company  with  a 
capital  of  about  $  100,000,  which  would  be  sufficient  to  or- 
ganize an  Association  of  the  kind,  could  easily  be  formed. 
After  a  perusal  of  the  Chapters  upon  the 'education  of  children, 
they  can  judge  of  the  practicability  of  such  a  plan. 

There  is  a  great  variety  of  industrial  occupations  adapted  to 
the  strength  and  capacity  of  children.  By  a  proper  organiza- 
tion of  those  occupations,  by  connecting  rivalry,  ambition  and 
a  corporative  spirit  with  their  exercise ;  by  means  of  uniforms, 
little  tools  and  workshops,  the  energy  and  activity,  which  are 


346  DIFFERENT    METHODS   OF    MAKING 

v 

now  wasted  in  unproductive  plays  and  mischief,  could  be  di- 
rected to  useful  Industry  and  to  studies. 

But  the  great  advantage  of  such  an  Institution  would  be  that 
a  practical  or  industrial,  and  at  the  same  time  a  scientific  edu- 
cation,— infinitely  superior  to  what  can  be  received  in  the  best 
schools  of  civilization, — could  be  given  to  the  children.  Our 
present  systems  of  education  pay  no  attention  to  their  health, 
to  the  development  of  their  bodies,  and  to  their  industrial  edu- 
cation. They  neglect  three  quarters  of  the  task  of  a  true 
system  of  education,  and  perform  the  remaining  quarter  most 
miserably. 

An  Association  might  also  be  organized  with  two  hundred 
grown  persons.  But  with  this  number  the  mechanism  of  the 
Groups  and  Series  could  not  be  applied:  four  hundred  are 
necessary  for  that  purpose.  Such  an  Association  would  offer, 
however,  a  profitable  investment  to  capital,  for  besides  the 
great  economies  which  would  result  from  Association,  the  va- 
rying of  occupations  and  the  introduction  of  more  convenience 
and  elegance  into  the  organization  of  labor,  would  give  a  zest 
to  Industry,  which  would  increase  immensely  the  real  product. 

To  make  a  trial,  which  would  test  fully  the  problem  of  true 
Association ;  that  is — of  an  order  in  which  labor  and  social  re- 
lations would  be  regulated  by  Series  of  Groups,  in  which  In- 
dustry would  be  rendered  attractive,  the  passions  harmonically 
developed  and  usefully  employed,  capacities  and  talents  called 
out  and  judiciously  directed,  the  demands  and  requirements  of 
human  nature  satisfied,  four  hundred  persons  at  last  are  ne- 
cessary. With  this  number  the  Serial  mechanism,  which  is  the 
only  true  regulating  principle  of  Industry  and  social  relations, 
can  be  applied. 

We  take  the  above  number,  because  with  it  about  fifty  Series 
can  be  organized ;  and  fifty  at  least  are  necessary  to  embrace 
industrial  occupations  enough  to  admit  of  frequent  changes  of 


A    PRACTICAL    TRIAL  OF    ASSOCIATION'.  347 

functions  and  to  apply  Groups  to  closely  compared  varieties  of 
animals  and  vegetables,  which  is  necessary  to  call  forth  emula- 
tion and  rival  pretensions,  and  to  give  rise  to  the  leagues,  con- 
trasts and  enthusiasm,  of  which  we  have  spoken  in  the  chapters 
on  the  Groups  and  Series. 

This  explains  why  Association  is  impracticable  with  a  small 
number.  Where  the  Serial  organization  does  not  exist,  pas- 
sional equilibrium  and  harmony  are  impossible.  Discords  and 
antipathies  break  out  in  all  small  unions  as  daily  experience 
proves :  what  is  more  discordant  than  the  family  group  ?  The 
error  has  been  committed  to  suppose  that  discord  was  inherent 
in  man,  and  that  the  larger  the  Association  the  greater  would 
be  the  discord.  It  has  not  been  discovered  from  numerous 
indications  in  the  material  world,  that  Harmony  is  only 
possible,  where  there  is  a  sufficient  number  of  elements,  and 
those  elements  are  rightly  classed.  To  harmonize  characters 
and  passions,  an  Association  of  four  hundred  persons  at  least  is 
necessary,  and  the  mode  of  classification  is  the  Serial. 

With  eight  hundred  persons  a  brilliant  experiment  could  be 
made ;  higher  harmonies  and  equilibriums  could  be  developed, 
a  more  perfect  organizatian  given  to  the  Groups  and  Series, 
stronger  rivalries  aroused,  a  broader  field  opened  to  ambition 
and  capacities,  greater  energy  directed  to  Industry,  and  the 
product  or  profit  greatly  increased.  With  an  Association  of 
eight  hundred  persons,  success  would  be  more  prompt  and  com- 
plete than  with  an  Association  of  four  hundred,  provided  it  was 
directed  by  a  skillful  hand. 

We  shall  describe  an  Association  of  the  largest  order,  that  of 
eighteen  hundred  to  two  thousand  persons.  It  will  explain  the 
smaller  Associations,  which  are  reductions  of  it. 

As  we  speak  of  two  thousand  as  the  largest  Association,  it 
may  be  supposed  that  there  will  be  no  towns  and  cities  in  the 
Combined  Order.  Such  will  not  be  the  case:  Association  will 
have  its  large  cities  and  capitals.  A  Capital  will  be  composed 


348  DIFFERENT    METHODS    OF    MAKING 

of  a  Serie  of  sumptuous  Phalanxes, — not  of  a  thousand,  or  ten 
thousand  incoherent  little  dwellings,  devoid  of  every  thing  like 
order,  unity  and  convenience. 

The  first  practical  experiment  in  Association  should  be  di- 
rected by  persons  thoroughly  acquainted  with  its  mechanism, 
and  perfectly  convinced  of  the  goodness  of  the  passions  and  of 
the  truth  of  Passional  attraction  as  a  social  guide. 

Give  the  direction  to  civilizees,  and  with  their  false  system 
of  economy  and  their  exclusive  money-making  spirit,  they 
will  thwart  the  whole  system  of  Attractive  industry.  Their 
instinctive  belief  in  the  viciousness  of  the  passions,  their  dis- 
regard of,  or  contempt  for  human  nature,  would  lead  them 
also  to  sacrifice  constantly  the  demands  and  requirements  of 
Attraction  to  arbitrary  rules  and  regulations  of  their  own,  and  to 
take  their  prejudices,  instead  of  human  nature,  as  the  standard 
of  truth.  The  avoidance  of  civilized  prejudices  will  conse- 
quently be  necessary  to  the  success  of  a  practical  trial. 

An  agricultural  Association  founded  in  the  vicinity  of  a  large 
city,  which  would  afford  a  ready  market  for  its  products,  would 
offer  a  very  profitable  investment  to  capital. 

Could  a  stock-company  be  formed  for  such  anobjectrit  might 
lead  to  important  results.  Agriculture  is  the  principal  source 
of  national  wealth ;  could  capital  be  directed  to  improving  it, 
to  giving  it  a  better  organization,  it  would  be  the  most  prompt 
means  of  increasing  the  riches  of  society,  and  of  insuring 
general  prosperity. 

But  the  whole  business  energy  and  talent  of  the  community 
are  directed  to  unproductive,  speculative,  intermediate  or 
scheming  operations,  which  do  not  increase  production,  but 
which  on  the  contrary  draw  their  profits  from,  and  are  a  tax 
upon,  productive  Industry. 

Commerce,  banks,  and  exchange  operations,  insurance,  trust 
and  other  stock-companies,  engage  the  attention  of  our  business 


A    fRACTICAI,   TRIAL  OF   ASSOCIATION.  349 

men  and  capitalists.  They  are  merely  dealing  in,  and  operat- 
ing upon  the  products  of  industry,  created  under  the  disad- 
vantages of  our  present  miserable  and  repugnant  system  of 
labor.  They  add  nothing  to  real  production,  but  on  the  con- 
trary harass  and  take  advantage  in  a  thousand  ways  of  the  pro- 
ducing classes,  from  whose  labor  their  wealth  is  drawn. 

Three-fourths  of  the  schemes  and  undertakings  of  civilization 
prove  failures,  and  cause  the  ruin  of  those  engaged  in  them.  It 
is  impossible  that  they  all  can  succeed,  when  they  have  to 
draw  their  profits  from  the  scanty  product,  which  our  present 
system  of  incoherent  industry  yield's. 

A  profitable  and  at  the  same  time  a  secure  investment  of  ca- 
pital is  not  easily  found.  Agricultural  Association,  however, 
offers  the  possibility  of  this  combination.  The  economies  of 
Association  combined  with  a  judicious  application  of  labor  and 
soils,  would"  increase  the  product  of  agricurture  four-fold.  The 
land  would  be  improved  by  cultivation,  and  tiie  edifices,  manu- 
factories, flocks-,  ete^-  eould  not  be  squandered  like  the  capital 
of  a  bank. 

Could  the  mania,  which  now  exists  for  starting  banks,  be 
directed  to  the  organizing  of  Associations, — that  is  to  increas- 
ing the  products  of  industry,  instead  of  fncreasing  the  mere 
representative  of  those  products,  it  would  soon  absorb  a  very  large 
portion  of  the  present  misdirected  business  energy  of  the  coun- 
try, and  pour  in  upon  it  a  stream  of  prosperity,  which  would 
sink  into  forgetful-ness  all  our  present  petty  and  unproductive 
plans  of  accumulating  wealth. 


350 


DETAILS    TO    BE    OBSERVED 


(If. 


CHAPTER  TWENTY-SIXTH. 


DETAILS    TO    BE    OBSERVED    IN  FOUNDING    A    PHALANX. 


For  an  Association  of  eighteen  hundred  to  two 
thousand  persons  a  tract  of  land  three  miles  square, 
say  in  round  numbers  six  thousand  acres,  will  be 
necessary.  A  fine  stream  of  water  should  flow 
through  it.  Its  surface  should  be  undulating  and  its 
soil  adapted  to  a  varied  cultivation.  It  should  be 
adjoining  a  forest,  and  situated  in  the  vicinity  of  a 
large  city,  which  would  afford  a  convenient  market 
for  its  products. 

The  first  Phalanx  being  alone  and  without  the  aid 
of  neighboring  Associations,  will  have,  in  consequence 
of  its  isolated  position,  so  many  voids  in  attraction, 
so  many  passional  calms  to  fear,  that  it  will  be  ne- 
cessary to  select  a  fine  position  adapted  to  all  varie- 
ties of  cultivation  and  occupations.  A  level  country 
would  be  very  unsuitable,  as  it  would  derange  the 
action  of  a  great  many  Series. 

Two  thousand  persons  of  different  degrees  of  for- 
tune, of  different  ages  and  characters,  of  varied 


Iff    FOUNDING    A    PHALANX.  351 

theoretical  and  practical  knowledge,  should  be  as- 
sociated. The  greatest  diversity  possible  should 
exist,  for  the  greater  the  diversity  of  passions,  talents, 
fortunes,  etc.,  of  the  members,  the  easier  it  will  be 
to  harmonize  them. 

If  the  founders  of  the  first  Phalanx  were  to  asso- 
ciate at  once  two  thousand  persons,  or  for  a  trial  on 
a  reduced  scale,  eight  hundred,  it  would  prove  a 
failure.  On  the  one  hand,  the  working  classes,  not 
knowing  how  they  were  to  be  employed,  would 
dictate  terms,  and  exact  too  much.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  richer  classes  would  want  confidence  and 
refuse  to  enter  into  any  contracts.  Both  classes 
should  be  led  to  solicit  admission  as  a  particular 
favor;  and  to  attain  this  end,  it  will  only  be  neces- 
sary to  proceed  judiciously  in  the  choice  of  the  first 
set  of  members  admitted,  who  should  consist  chiefly 
of  poorer  and  hired  persons.  Two  years  would  be 
requisite  to  perfect  an  organization  on  a  large  scale, 
and  nine  months  on  a  small. 

Every  possible  variety  of  agricultural  pursuits 
should  be  carried  on  in  the  Association.  Three 
branches  of  manufactures  at  least  should  be  or- 
ganized to  afibrd  occupation  during  rainy  days  and 
the  winter  months ;  besides  various  practical  branches 
of  the  arts  and  sciences,  without  including  those 
pursued  in  the  schools. 

>even-eighths  of  the  members  should  be  agricul- 
turalists and  manufacturers;  the  balance  capitalists, 
men  of  science  and  artists,  who  in  a  small  Associa- 


352  DETAIBS    TO  BE  OBSERVED 

tion  of  four  hundred  persons,  would  be  unnecessary; 
but  we  are  here  describing  the  largest  Association, 
that  of  two  thousand  persons,  which  should  first  be 
understood,  as  the  other  is  merely  a  reduction  of  it. 

In  laying  out  the  fields  and  in  organizing  the  work- 
shops of  the  first  Phalanx,  it  will  be  necessary  to 
foresee  and  calculate  as  far  as  possible  the  degree 
of  attraction,  which  each  branch  of  industry  will  ex- 
cite. The  plum-tree,  for  example,  is  less  attractive 
than  the  pear-tree;  fewer  plum  than  pear-trees  con- 
sequently should  be  planted.  The  degree  of  attrac- 
tion, which  each  branch  of  Industry  possesses,  will 
be  the  only  guide  to  follow  in  the  choice  of  occu- 
pations. 

Political-economists  would  reason  differently ; 
they  would  lay  it  down  as  a  principle,  that  those 
objects  should  be  cultivated,  which  produced  the 
most.  The  first  Phalanx  should  avoid  this  error ;  it 
will  have  to  follow  a  different  policy  from  those 
which  follow  it.  When  Association  becomes  general, 
it  will  be  necessary  to  regulate  Industry  to  suit  the 
demands  of  interest  as  well  as  of  attraction;  but  in 
the  first  Association  a  different  object  is  to  be  at- 
tained ;  the  great  question  is  to  succeed  in  inducing 
eighteen  hundred  to  two  thousand  persons  to  work 
from  attraction  alone ;  and  should  it  be  found  that 
the  cultivation  of  thistles  and  briars  was  more  at- 
tractive than  the  cultivation  of  fruit-trees  and  flowers, 
it  would  be  necessary  to  abandon  fruit-trees  and 
flowers  for  thistles  and  briars  in  the  first  Phalanx. 


IN    FOUNDING    A    PHALANX.  353 

;:</..!  ,*-.>>•<>•  *f>  o;     +;,.  f.«y 

As  soon  as  the  two  great  ends  of  Association, — In- 
dustrial attraction  and  Passional  equilibrium  are  at- 
tained, means  will  be  found  of  extending  the  sphere 
of  Industry  to  useful  objscts,  which  were  neglected 
in  the  commencement.  The  first  and  sole  aim 
should  be  to  render  Industry  Attractive,  without  re- 
gard to  objects  cultivated  ;  it  should  suit  its  policy 
to  this  great  end,  and  solve  the  problem  of  Industrial 

Attraction  by  any  and  every  means  within  its  power. 

* 

The  internal  organization  of  the  Phalanx  will,  in 
the  commencerhent,  be  under  the  direction  of  a  Coun- 
cil, composed  of  stockholders,  distinguished  for  their 
wealth  or  their  industrial  and  scientific  acquirements. 
Women,  if  there  be  any  capable,  will  take  part  with 
the  men  ;  they  will  in  Association  be  upon  a  level  with 
them  in  all  business  matters,  provided  they  possess 
the  necessary  knowledge. 

In  Association  no  community  of  property  can  exist, 
nor  can  any  collective  payments  to  whole  families 
take  place.  An  account  is  kept  with  every  member 
individually,  even  with  children  over  four  and  a  half 
years  of  age;  and  every  person  is  remunerated  ac- 
cording to  LABOR,  CAPITAL  AND  SKILL. 

Parents,  husbands,  wives  and  friends  can,  as  in 
civilization,  put  in  common,  if  they  wish,  what  they 
possess;  but  the  Phalanx  in  its  relations  with  them, 
opens  on  its  books  an  account  with  each  individual- 
ly, even  with  the  child  five  years  old,  the  profits  of 
whose  industry  do  not  go  to  the  father,  but  are  re- 

23 


[    m 

354  DETAIES    TO  BE  OBSERVED 

•      81:    fiOfJJ;  ,'/, 

served  and  constitute,  together  with  legacies,  in 
heritances  and  interest,  a  fund,  which  the  Phalanx 
preserves  for  him  until  he  is  of  age. 

All  lands,  machines  furniture,  or  other  objects, 
brought  by  members  into  the  Association,  are  ap- 
praised at  their  cash  value,  and  represented,  as  well 
as  the  monied  capital  paid  in,  by  transferable  shares, 
which  are  secured  upon  the  personal  and  real  estate 
of  the  Phalanx,  that  is  upon  its  domain,  edifices, 
flocks,  manufactories,  etc.  The  Council  transfers 
to  each  person  the  value  in  shares  of  the  objects, 
which  he  has  furnished.  A  person  may  be  a  member 
without  being  a  stockholder,  or  a  stockholder  with- 
out being  a  member.  In  the  latter  case,  he  receives 
no  part  of  the  profits,  which  are  awarded  to  Labor 
and  Skill 

The  annual  profits  of  the  Association  are,  after 
taking  an  inventory,  divided  into  three  unequal  por- 
tions, and  paid  as  follows  : 

Five  twelvths  to  Labor. 

Four  twelvths  to  Capital. 

Three  twelvths  to  Practical  and  theoretical  know- 
ledge. 

Every  person  may,  according  to  circumstances, 
receive  a  part  of  the  three  classes  ofprofit,  or  of  any 
one  separately. 

The  Council,  which  has  charge  of  the  financial 
department,  advances  to  the  poorer  members,  cloth- 
ing, food  and  lodging  for  a  year.  No  risk  is  run  in 


IN    FOUNDING    A    PHALANX.  355 

making  this  advance,  for  it  is  known  that  the  pro- 
duct of  the  labor,  which  each  individual  will  per- 
form by  Attraction  or  pleasure,  will  exceed  in  amount 
the  advances  made  him ;  and  that  the  Phalanx,  on 
balancing  its  accounts  after  the  yearly  inventory, 
will  be  debtor  to  the  poorer  class,  to  whom  it  has 
made  the  advance  of  a  minimum. 

This  minimum  comprises  meals  at  the  tables  of  the 
third  class.* 

A  decent  dress,  and  uniforms  of  work  and  parade ; 
besides  all  implements  necessary  to  their  industrial 
occupations. 

A  room  and  bed-room  for  each  individual,  and  ad- 
mission to  the  public  halls  and  saloons,  and  to  all 
places  of  amusement. 

As  Association  admits  of  no  coercive  measures, 
all  labors  to  be  performed  are  pointed  out,  but  not 
ordered  by  the  Areopagus,  which  is  a  supreme  coun- 


*  To  avoid  uniformity  and  a  monotonous  equality,  which  are 
inadmissible  in  Association,  and  to  satisfy  all  tastes  and  for- 
tunes, there  will  be  tables  of  three  different  prices.  Every  per- 
son subscribes  to  such  tables  as  his  fortune  or  inclination  directs. 

Alongside  the  large  banquet  halls,  will  be  small  dining  rooms, 
where  groups  and  parties  can  dino  alone.  An  arrangement  of 
this  kind  will  greatly  increase,  at  last  so  far  as  living  is  con- 
cerned, Individual  Liberty,  which  people  are  afraid  may  be  de- 
stroyed in  Association.  The  civil  izee  in  his  monotonous  house- 
hold, dines  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  times  a  year  with  the 
same  company.  In  a  Phalanx,  each  person  has  the  choice  of 
fifty  tables  at  least,  and  can  vary  his  company  daily,  if  he 
wishes,  dine  one  day  with  one  set  of  friends,  the  next  with  an 
other,  as  his  inclinations  or  his  industrial  rivalries  and  occupa- 
tions may  direct. 

23* 


356  DETAILS    TO    BE    OBSERVED 

cil  of  Industry  in  Association.  This  council  is  com- 
posed of  the  higher  officers  of  each  Serie,  of  men  of 
age  and  experience,  and  of  the  principal  stock- 
holders, who  have  a  vote  for  each  share.  Its  in- 
fluence is  based  upon  public  opinion,  and  its  deci- 
sions are  subjected  to  attraction, — each  Serie  deci- 
ding freely  and  without  restriction  as  to  its  own  in- 
dustrial interests.  The  Areopagus  cannot,  for  ex- 
ample, order  reaping  or  mowing ;  it  declares  merely 
from  observations  made  that  such  or  such  a  time 
will  be  most  suitable  for  those  operations;  each  Serie 
afterwards  acts  according  to  its  own  choice,  which 
cannot,  however,  differ  much  from  that  of  the  Areo- 
pagus, as  the  latter  is  authority  in  the  opinion  of  the 
public. 

The  Council,  of  which  we  have  spoken,  and  which 
has  the  supervision  of  the  daily  concerns  of  the 
Phalanx,  is  second  in  authority  to  the  Areopagus, 
and  is  composed  of  delegates  from  that  body. 

§   II. 

Men  most  opposed  to  Association,  will  be  capi- 
talists and  landholders,  We  will  enter  consequently 
into  a  short  examination  of  the  mode  of  employing 
and  investing  capital  in  Association,  and  of  the  value 
of  real-estate  in  this  new  order.  The  advantages, 
which  Association  offers  in  these  respects,  must 
strike  the  attention  of  those  two  classes,  whose  in- 
terests suffer  so  much  from  the  frauds,  speculations 
and  revolutions  of  civilization. 


IN  FOUNDING  A  PHALANX.  357 

After  a  life  spent  in  making  a  fortune,  new  diffi- 
culties and  anxieties  arise  in  preserving  and  gua- 
rantying it  to  children,  who,  after  the  death  of  the 
father,  are  so  often  the  victims  of  frauds  and  bank- 
ruptcies, or  of  faithless  or  careless  guardians.  These 
dangers  will  cease  the  moment  Association  is  or- 
ganized, and  this  advantage,  it  strikes  us,  is  among 
the  first  to  be  pointed  out. 

Land,  in  the  Combined  order,  is  not  owned  without 
a  guarantee  of  product,  as  is  so  often  the  case  in  ci- 
vilization. An  entire  Phalanx  cultivating  a  domain, 
becomes  security  to  the  capitalist  who  owns  stock ; 
(which  is  the  same  as  owning  the  land  and  edifices, 
as  they  are  mortgaged  to  secure  it;)  and  in  case  of 
damage  by  hail  or  other  accidents,  the  stock-holder 
is  sure  to  receive  the  minimum  rale  of  interest,  which 
is  guarantied  to  him  by  the  entire  Phalanx  and  by 
those  of  the  region  around.  In  Association,  the 
Phalanxes  insure  each  other  against  such  losses. 

Capitalists,  from  pride  or  distrust,  may  be  opposed 
to  Association ;  we  must  multiply  consequently  details 
to  satisfy  them;  we  must  prove  to  them  in  various 
ways  that  in  civilization  they  are  deprived  of  all  the 
advantages  which  they  desire,  and  that  in  the  Com- 
bined order  alone,  they  will  possess  them. 

To  hear  civilizees  talk,  it  would  be  supposed  that 
they  possess  fine  domains,  superb  landed  estates. 
But  what  interest  do  those  estates  yield?  Hardly  three 
per  cent,  after  deducting  taxes,  delays,  thefts,  acci- 
dental damages  and  law-suits,  which,  in  civilization 


358  DETAILS    TO    BE  OBSERVED 

cannot  be  avoided,  for  according  to  the  adage,  who 
has  soil  has  turmoil.  There  are  besides  years,  when 
there  is  a  complete  failure  of  crops,  and  the  land- 
holder receives  nothing,  which  must  be  taken  into 
account. 

If  capitalists  understood  the  system  of  Association, 
they  would  feel  no  repugnance  in  investing  their  pro- 
perty in  the  partnership  of  a  Phalanx.  Are  they  not 
at  present  in  copartnership  with  each  of  their  ten- 
ants? In  Association  the  entire  Phalanx  is  in  co- 
partnership with  them  and  becomes  their  tenant. 
All  its  lands,  edifices,  flocks  and  manufactories  are 
mortgaged  to  secure  their  stock.  Will  they  obtain 
any  such  security  in  the  present  system?  Will  they 
see  a  hundred  families  pledge  themselves  collective- 
ly to  guaranty  them  an  income  from  their  lands  ? 

It  is  only  in  Association  that  they  will  find : 

1.  Guaranty  of  a  fixed  income,   exempt  from  de- 
duction for  losses,  which  may  be  sustained  by 
the  lands,  edifices,  etc. 

2.  Great,  increase  of  real  or  positive  revenue,  owing 
to  the  increase  in  production. 

3.  Increase  of  the  clear  profit  by  exemption  from 
accidental  charges,  such  as  superfluous  taxes  and 
assessments,  law-suits,  etc. 

4.  Additional  profit  of  labor  and  skill,  without  the 
care  and  anxiety  of  supervision. 

To  these  various  advantages  is  to  be  added  an- 
other, which  is  unknown  in  civilization,  and  which 
its  financiers  would  never  have  succeeded  in  realiz- 


IN    FOUNDING    A    PHALANX.  359 

ing ;  it  is  the  power  of  rendering  real-estate  a  trans- 
ferable and  circulating  medium,  which  can  be  con- 
verted at  will  and  without  loss  into  money. 

Every  Phalanx  will,  when  called  upon,  buy  its 
shares  at  the  valuation  of  the  last  inventory,  with  in- 
terest for  the  part  of  the  year  which  has  expired. 
Thus,  did  a  capitalist  possess  millions,  he  could  re- 
alize his  fortune  at  a  moment's  notice,  and  without 
loss  or  expense. 

If  a  Phalanx  had  not  funds  on  hand  to  purchase 
the  shares  of  a  large  stock-holder,  the  Council  of  the 
province  or  region  in  which  it  was  situated,  would 
advance  the  money  and  take  the  stock,  which  in  As- 
sociation is  considered  as  the  best  of  investments. 

The  landed  stock  of  Association  yields  a  large  in- 
terest without  the  trouble  of  supervision  and  without 
incuring  any  risks.  The  shares  cannot  be  lost, 
burned  up  or  stolen,  as  they  are  registered  on  the 
books  of  the  Phalanx,  and  on  those  of  the  capital  of 
the  region. 

All  property  consequently  will  become  convertible 
in  Association,  although  well  invested,  bearing  a 
large  interest,  and  secure  against  frauds.  This  con- 
vertibility of  property  is  a  point  on  which  our  poli- 
tical economists  fail  entirely.  So  difficult  is  it  to 
command  ready  capital  that  the  English  deposit  large 
sums  with  bankers,  receiving  no  interest  and  incur- 
ring the  risk  of  bankrupcy  for  the  sole  advantage 
of  having  ready  funds  at  command.  A  man,  in  a 
large  commercial  town  may  also  keep  a  convertible 


360  DETAILS    TO    BE   OBSERVED 

capital  on  hand  by  informing  himself  daily  of  the 
credit  of  business  men,  but  even  in  this  case,  if  he 
is  not  very  careful  in  his  investments,  he  finds  him- 
self involved  in  losses  by  frauds  and  failures. 

An  Association  can  in  no  case  become  bankrupt, 
or  carry  oft*  its  lands,  edifices,  manufactories  and 
flocks,  as  could  be  done  with  the  capital  of  a  bank. 
A  collective  and  reciprocal  insurance  will  exist 
against  all  damages  by  the  elements,  which  will, 
however,  be  very  much  reduced  by  a  system  of  general 
cultivation.  Conflagrations  will  also  be  reduced  to 
almost  nothing,  owing  to  the  precautions,  which  can 
be  taken  in  the  construction  of  the  edifices  of  Asso- 
ciation, and  in  its  domestic  system. 

A  minor  runs  no  risk  of  losing  his  property,  or 
of  being  wronged  in  the  management  of  the  prin- 
cipal or  income:  the  administration  of  it  is  the  same 
for  him  as  for  the  other  stock-holders ;  if  he  in- 
herits stock  in  divers  Phalanxes,  the  stock  is  re- 
gistered on  their  books;  it  bears  the  same  interest 
for  him  as  for  others,  and  can,  under  no  pretext,  be 
transfered  for  him  until  he  is  of  age,  when  he  can 
dispose  of  it  as  he  chooses. 

A  Phalanx  may  incur  a  loss  in  an  industrial  en- 
terprise, like  the  establishment  of  a  munufactory; 
but  before  undertaking  any  operation,  which  may 
be  considered  hazardous,  such  as  a  new  branch  of 
manufactures,  the  working  of  a  mine  or  any  other 
experiment,  which  is  without  the  pale  of  its  ordina- 
ry undertakings,  it  notifies  each  stock-holder  of  the 


Iff    FOUNDING    A    PHALANX.  361 

same,  who  is  free  to  dispose  of  his  shares,  or  to  take 
no  part  in  those  enterprises,  which  do  not  obtain  his 
confidence.  He  can  consequently  retain  his  stock 
and  take  the  ordinary  chances  of  profit ;  he  would 
in  such  a  case  receive  a  full  dividend,  even  were  the 
Phalanx  to  lose  in  a  new  undertaking. 

But  a  Phalanx  in  a  body  directed  by  its  Areo- 
pagus of  experienced  and  practical  men  and  by  the 
advice  of  neighbouring  Associations,  will  not,  like  an 
individual,  be  exposed  to  imprudent  speculations ; 
and  if  any  industrial  operation  be  hazardous,  care 
will  be  taken  to  divide  the  risk  among  a  number  of 
Phalanxes,  consult  well  beforehand,  and  cover  the 
risk  by  insurance.  As  to  frauds,  none  can  exist. 

Other  regulations  of  Association,  in  which  we  will 
not  yet  enter,  will  prove  that  real  estate  can  only  be 
convertible  at  will  and  well  secured  in  Association, 
and  that  it  is  neither  convertible  nor  secure  in  civili- 
zation, whatever  efforts  may  be  made  to  attain  either 
of  these  two  ends;  for  he  who  invests  in  real  estfcte, 
holds  a  property  which  is  not  convertible  at  will, 
and  is  not  secure  against  frauds,  law  suits  and  other 
dangers;  and  on  the  other  hand,  the  capital  of  a 
man  engaged  in  banking  or  financial  business,  is  not 
safe  and  always  realizable,  for  failures  and  business 
frauds  are  constant  dangers  and  obstacles  in  the  way. 


362  ARCHITECTURE. 


CHAPTER  TWENTY-SEVENTH. 

ARCHITECTURE. EXPLANATION    OF    THE    PLATES. 

Plate  No.  1  is  a  perspective  view  of  the  Palace  of  a  Phalanx, 
seen  from  a  height.  The  front  buildings,  b,  c,  d,  f,  g,  h,  which 
are  laid  down  in  the  ground  plan,  are  left  out — the  object  be- 
ing to  give  a  general  idea  of  the  main  edifice.  It  differs  also  in 
some  other  respects  from  the  ground  plan ;  the  buildings,  C  and 
H,  are  not  introduced.  The  plan  here  sketched  is  to  be  consi- 
dered merely  as  one  which  would  answer  all  the  purposes  of 
an  Association  of  two  thousand  persons;  but  which  may  vary 
according  to  climate,  locations  and  the  taste  of  architects. 

Up  to  the  present  time,  there  has  been  no  Unity  in  the  archi- 
tecture of  man;  he  has  erected  isolated  buildings  for  special 
purposes,  which  bear  the  impress,  with  a  few  exceptions,  of 
his  incoherent  social  existence,  and  the  subversion  of  his  pas- 
sions. In  the  dwelling  house,  we  find  depicted  the  selfishness 
and  circumscribed  spirit  of  the  isolated  family ;  in  the  gloomy 
prison,  the  vice  and  discord  attendant  upon  the  false  develop- 
ment of  passions  ;  in  the  church,  (which  is  the  manifestation 
of  a  true  sentiment,)  the  attestation  of  the  tie,  which  exists 
between  man  and  the  author  of  his  being. 

Yes,  the  Architecture  of  civilization  bears  upon  it  the  impress 
of  the  selfishness,  vice,  poverty  and  discord  of  that  society. 
Civilization  has  consequently  its  cramped  and  isolated  house- 
holds, its  jails  and  penitentiaries,  its  poor-houses,  its  lunatic 


EXPLANATION    OF    THE    PLATES.  363 

assylums,  its  forts  and  fortifications,  and  its  scaffolds  and  dun- 
geons. Could  the  social  subversion  which  now  reigns,  be  re- 
flected more  faithfully  than  it  is  in  present  constructions  ] 

Association  will  have  ITS  ARCHITECTURE,  and  it  will  be  an 
architecture  of  combination  and  unity.  When  men  are  asso- 
ciated and  united,  one  vast  and  elegant  edifice  will  replace 
hundreds  of  the  isolated  und  miserable  constructions  of  civili- 
zation. 

The  edifice  of  a  Phalanx  must  be  planned  to  suit  the  require- 
ments of  human  nature,  and  adapted  to  the  individual  and  so- 
cial relations,  wants  and  pleasures  of  an  Association  of  two 
thousand  persons.  From  a  perfect  knowledge  of  human  nature, 
can  we  not  deduce  the  construction  of  an  edifice  perfectly  suited 
to  it  ?  Most  certainly.  As  perfectly  as  the  body  is  adapted  to 
the  soul,  so  perfectly  can  man  adapt  his  dwelling  to  the  de- 
mands of  his  social  existence. 

Let  us  explain  this  by  an  example.  We  find  in  man  the  re- 
ligious sentiment :  it  requires  an  edifice  where  it  can  manifest 
itself  with  dignity.  Different  religions  have  called  forth  dif- 
ferent architectures, — pompous  or  solemn,  like  the  spirit  which 
animated  them.  The  church,  the  temple,  the  mosque,  the  pa- 
goda are  architectural  expressions  of  a  profound  sentiment  or 
attraction  in  man.  If  he  can  build  an  edifice,  which  shall 
answer  to  one  of  the  requirements  or  sentiments  of  his  nature, 
can  he  not,  with  a  true  knowledge  of  his  whole  nature,  build 
an  edifice,  which  shall  answer  to  all  his  sentiments  and  wants, 
or  to  all  his  passional  requirements?  Yes,  and  the  century 
will  prove  it. 

In  the  architecture  of  the  future,  there  will  be  nothing  arbi- 
trary ;  it  will  be  based  upon  the  passional  harmonies  of  human 
nature,  and  will  combine  in  the  highest  degree  the  useful  a°d 
thn  beautiful. 


364  ARCHITECTURE. 

All  varieties  and  kinds  of  edifices,  which  are  necessary  to 
man,  and  which  are  now  scattered  and  isolated,  will  be  com- 
bined and  interwoven  in  one  vast  construction,  which  will  form 
the  Palace  of  a  Phalanx.  It  will  as  much  excel  in  architectural 
beauty  and  harmony  the  contracted  and  isolated  dwelling  house 
of  civilization,  as  the  intelligent  beings,  who  inhabit  it,  will 
excel  in  social  and  passional  harmony  the  discordant  and  sel- 
fish family  of  the  present  order. 

PLATE    SECOND. 

A,  Large  avenue  or  road  passing  between  the  Palace  and 
the  rural  buildings,  which  comprise  the  storehouses,  granaries, 
stables,  etc. 

P.     Grand  Square  for  Parades. 

G.  Garden  in  the  centre  of  the  edifice,  planted  with  ever- 
greens. It  contains  the  Greenhouses,  etc.,  and  forms  a 
winter  promenade. 

i 

a,  c,  o,   u.      Court-yards  between  the   different  ranges  of 
buildings ;  they  are  from  ninety  to  a  hundred  and  twenty  feet 
wide,  and  are  crossed  by  corridors. 

b,  c,    d,    f,    g,    h.      Yards   of  the  granaries,  storehouses, 
stables,  etc. 

E,  p,  p.     Large  portals  or  principal  entrances  to  the  Palace. 

The  range  of  buildings,  which  enclose  the  garden  G,  are 
reserved  for  quiet  occupations.  The  Exchange,  *  the  Council 
rooms,  the  Reading  rooms,  the  Library,  the  Tower,  the  Banquet 

*  The  Phalanx  will  have  its  Exchange,  where  all  business  inter- 
ests and  all  subjects  iclating  to  Industry,  will  be  discussed.  Meet- 
ings of  Groups  and  Series  and  important  industrial  undertakings 
will  also  be  concerted. 


EXPLANATION    OF    THE    PLATES.  365 

and  other  important  public  halls,  and  the  high  priced  appart- 
ments  are  placed  in  them. 

All  noisy  occupations  should  be  carried  on  in  one  of  the 
sub-wings ;  court-yard  u,  would  answer  for  this  purpose.  The 
edifice,  as  the  plan  shows,  is  distributed  according  to  a  Serie 
with  a  centre,  wings  and  sub-wings. 

The  court-yards,  e  and  o,  in  the  wings  are  used, — one  for 
the  kitchens,  the  other  for  a  repository  for  the  choice  and  ele- 
gant equipages  of  the  Phalanx.  They  must  be  ornamented 
with  trees  and  shrubbery. 

C,  the  Church. 

The  building  H  can  be  used  as  a  Concert  hall,  or  as  an  Opera 
house ;  it  would  be  better  to  separate  it  from  the  main  edifice, 
with  which  it  can  communicate  by  a  covered  passage. 

The  range  of  buildings  around  the  court-yard  a,  can  be  used 
for  a  hotel  or  caravanserai ;  it  will  contain  the  rooms  devoted  to 
visitors  and  travellers.  The  court-yard  u,  will  contain  the  shops 
of  black  and  tin  smiths,  carpenters,  etc. 

Around  all  the  court-yards  and  the  garden  G,  winds  a  spa- 
cious and  elegant  gallery  or  corridor,  which  is  wanned  in 
winter  and  ventilated  in  summer,  and  which  connects  all  parts 
of  the  edifice ;  it  forms  a  kind  of  elegant  covered  street. 

The  Gallery  is  represented  by  the  narrow  light  line,  which 
winds  around  the  inside  of  the  dark  broad  line.  The  dark- 
line  does  not  represent  the  foundation  walls  of  the  edifice,  but 
the  ranges  of  buildings.  The  width  of  the  dark  und  the  light 
line,  which  is  the  width  of  a  range  of  buildings,  is  seventy- 
two  feet. 

In  order  not  to  give  too  great  a  length  to  the  Palace,  it 
will  be  composed  of  a  double  range  or  row  of  buildings,  which 
is  represented  in  the  plate  by  the  double  row  of  broad  dark  lines, 
between  which  the  cburt-yarda  and  the  garden  G  are  enclosed. 


EDIFICE    OF    THE    PHALANX. 


CHAPTER  TWENTY-EIGHTH. 

EDIFICE    OF    THE    PHALANX. 

§  I. 

The  edifice,  outhouses  and  the  distribution  of  the  grounds  of 
a  Society,  whose  operations  and  industry  are  regulated  by 
Series  of  groups,  must  differ  prodigiously  from  the  construc- 
tions of  civilization,  from  its  isolated  dwellings  and  villages, 
which  are  adapted  to  families,  between  whom  very  few  social 
relations,  and  no  combination  of  action,  exist.  Instead  of  the 
confused  mass  of  small  houses,  which  compose  our  towns  and 
villages,  and  which  vie  with  each  other  in  dirt  and  ugliness, 
a  Phalanx  builds  a  regular  edifice,  as  far  as  the  land  permits. 
We  will  add  a  general  description,  supposing  the  location  to 
be  a  favorable  one. 

The  centre  of  the  Palace  should  be  reserved  for  quiet  oc- 
cupations; it  will  contain  the  dining  halls,  council  rooms,  the 
exchange,  library,  reading-rooms,  etc.  In  it  will  also  be  placed 
the  observatory,  the  telegraph,  the  chime  of  bells  and  the 
tower  of  observation,  which  overlooks  the  domain,  and  from 
which  orders  can  be  issued ;  the  range  ofbuildings,  which  form 
the  centre,  will  enclose  a  winter  garden  and  promenade,  orna- 
mented with  evergreens. 


EDIFICE    OF    THE    PHALANX.  367 


In  one  of  the  wings  should  be  located  all  manufactories  and 
workshops  of  a  noisy  nature,  like  those  of  carpenters  and  black- 
smiths ;  in  it  also  should  be  held  assemblages  of  children  en- 
gaged in  industrial  pursuits,  who  are  generally  very  noisy. 
Association  will  avoid  by  this  means  a  great  inconvenience  of 
our  cities  in  almost  every  street  of  which  some  tin  or  black- 
smith, or  some  learner  of  the  clarionet  stuns  the  ears  of  fifty 
families  around.  In  the  other  wing,  the  hotel,  with  apart- 
ments and  saloons  for  strangers,  should  be  placed,  which  would 
prevent  the  centre  of  the  Palace  from  being  crowded. 

Besides  the  private  rooms  and  apartments,  the  Palace  must 
contain  a  great  many  public  halls  and  saloons  for  social  rela- 
tions, and  for  the  meetings,  occupations  and  pleasures  of  the 
Series.  They  will  resemble  in  no  way  our  halls  and  saloons, 
in  which  all  parties  and  social  interchanges  are  carried  on  con- 
fusedly. A  ball  or  a  banquet  forms  at  present  but  one  as- 
sembly without  subdivisons ;  the  Combined  order  will  not  ad- 
mit this  confusion ;  a  Serie  will  always  be  composed  of  three, 
four  or  five  divisions,  and  will  occupy  as  many  contiguous 
saloons :  the  saloons  must  have  small  rooms  adjoining  them 
for  groups  and  committees  of  the  divisions.  We  will  take  as 
an  example  the  banquet  halls,  which  will  comprise  nine  sa- 
loons of  unequal  sizes : 

1.  For  persons  extremely  advanced  in  age. 

2.  For  children. 

3.  For  the  third  class  of  fortune. 
'2.  For  the  second  class  of  fortune. 
1.  For  the  first  or  richest  class. 

Anjoining  these  banquet  halls  must  be  small  dining  rooms 


368  EDIFICE    OF    THE    PHALANX. 

for  parties  or  groups,  who  may  wish  to  eat  apart  from  the 
large  tables.  Parties  of  friends  will  wish  daily  to  dine  by 
themselves ;  they  can  do  so  in  these  rooms,  where  they  will  be 
served  in  the  same  manner  and  at  the  same  price  as  at  the  large 
tables. 

The  store-houses,  granaries  and  stables  must  be  placed,  if 
possible,  opposite  the  Palace.  The  space  between  the  two  will 
form  the  grand  square,  where  parades  and  important  festivities 
will  be  held.  The  Palace,  to  make  an  approximate  calculation, 
must  be  about  twenty-two  hundred  feet  in  length ;  with  these 
dimensions  the  grand  square  can  be  twelve  hundred,  and  the 
wings  each  five  hundred  feet  long.  This  estimate  is  for  a  Pa- 
lace of  the  largest  description.  As  we  descend  to  smaller  As- 
sociations, the  size  of  the  edifice  will  of  course  be  reduced ;  and 
for  a  small  Association  of  two  hundred  persons,  a  very  plain 
building  can  be  used ;  but  we  are  here  describing  the  Palace  of 
a  Phalanx  of  the  largest  class. 

The  space  left  in  the  centre  of  the  Palace,  behind  the  grand 
square,  is  reserved  for  a  winter  garden  and  promenade,  and  is 
planted  with  evergreens.  Thfs  garden  must  occupy  an  enclosed 
area,  which  does  not  open  upon  the  fields. 

In  order  not  to  give  too  great  a  height  to  the  Palace,  which 
would  diminish  the  facility  of  intercourse,  the  lines  of  buildings, 
both  of  the  wings  and  centre,  should  be  doubled,  as  we  see  i 
the  plan ;  this  would  leave  open  spaces  of  a  hundred,  to  a 
hundred  and  twenty  feet  wide  between  the  two  parallel  ranges 
of  buildings ;  they  would  form  elongated  court-yards,  traversed 
by  corridors  supported  by  columns  on  a  level  with  the  first  sto- 


EDIFICE   OF    THE    PHALANX. 


ry.  If  these  elongated  court-yards  or  spaces  between  the  two 
ranges  of  buildings,  were  less  than  a  hundred  feet  wide,  they 
could  not  well  be  planted  with  trees  and  shrubbery,  and  would 
be  inadmissible  in  Association,  in  which  the  ornamental  and 
the  pleasing  must  in  every  way  be  combined. 

The  gardens  should  be  placed,  as  far  as  practicable,  behind 
the  Palace,  and  not  behind  the  stables  and  granaries,  near 
which  the  wheat  and  other  fields  would  be  better  located.  This 
distribution,  however,  will  be  regulated  by  localities  ;  but  we 
are  now  speculating  upon  a  choice  location. 

We  will  not  enter  at  present  into  a  description  of  the  distri- 
bution of  the  fields  and  gardens;  we  will  make  it  the  subject 
of  a  special  chapter. 

Through  the  ground  story  of  the  Palace,  openings  or  arcadea 
will  be  left  at  intervals  for  the  passage  of  carriages. 

To  save  walls  and  land,  and  to  promote  facility  of  inter- 
course, the  Palace  should  be  three  stories  high,  besides  the 
attic  and  basement.  It  should  rest  upon  a  high  basement,  which 
would  form  a  spacious  ground  story,  between  which  and  UKJ 
first  story,  along  which  the  gallery  runs,  a  semi-story  should  b« 
constructed.  This  semi-story  and  a  portion  of  the  basement 
would  contain  the  sleeping  rooms  of  children,  and  of 
extremely  advanced  in  age. 


370  EDIFICE    OF    THE    PHALANX. 

§  II. 

GALLERIES   OF    ASSOCIATION. 

We  will  now  proceed  to  give  a  short  description  of  the  Gallery 
of  the  Palace,  which  is  a  spaciaus  and  elegant  covered  avenue 
or  corridor,  that  serves  as  a  means  of  communication  between 
all  parts  of  the  edifice.* 

The  Galleries  of  the  Palaces  of  Association  are  a  mode  of  in- 
ternal communication,  which  would  be  alone  sufficient  to  make 
us  disdain  the  palaces  and  greatest  cities  of  civilization.  Who- 
ever shall  see  the  Galleries  of  a  Phalanx,  will  look  upon  the  most 
elegant  civilized  palace  as  a  place  of  exile,  as  the  residence  of 
idiots,  who,  after  three  thousand  years  of  architectural  studies, 
have  not  learned  how  to  construct  healthy  and  commodious  re- 
sidences. 

In  Association  a  man  of  the  most  humble  fortune  will  go  from 
his  rooms  to  the  public  halls  and  manufactories  through  gal- 
leries, warmed  in  winter  and  aired  in  summer.  The  inhabitants 
of  the  Palace  can,  in  the  height  of  winter,  communicate  with 
the  workshops,  stables,  store-houses,  bazaars,  banquet  and  ball 
rooms,  public  saloons,  etc.,  without  knowing  whether  it  rains 
or  blows,  whether  it  is  warm  or  cold ;  and  the  details  which 
we  shall  add,  authorize  us  to  say,  that  if  the  civilizees,  with 
three  thousand  years  of  study  and  practice,  have  not  yet  learned 
how  to  construct  themselves  residences  ,  it  is  not  very  sur- 

*  Around  the  interior  of  the  entire  building  winds  a  spacious  gal- 
lery or  corridor,  which  is,  so  to  say,  the  street  of  the  Phalanx.  It  is 
an  elegant  covered  avenue,  from  which  flights  of  stairs  and  other 
means  of  communication  lead  to  every  part  of  the  building. 


EDIFICE    Or    THE    PHALANX.  371 

prising  that  they  have  not  learned  how  to  direct  and  harmonize 
their  passions.  When  men  fail  in  the  smallest  calculations  in 
the  material  order,  it  is  not  surprising  that  they  should  fail  in 
important  calculations  in  the  passional  order. 

Let  us  enter  upon  the  description  of  the  Galleries,  which  are 
one  of  the  principal  charms  of  the  Palaces  of  Association.  A 
Phalanx  containing  two  thousand  persons,  is  quite  a  little  city, 
particularly  as  it  has  extensive  rural  buildings,  which  our  towns 
have  not. 

The  Phalanx  has  no  exterior  street  or  uncovered  way,  ex- 
posed to  the  inclemency  of  the  weather ;  all  quarters  of  the  edi- 
fice can  be  communicated  with  by  means  of  the  large  Gallery, 
which  passes  along  the  first  story,  (that  is  the  story  above  the 
basement  and  the  semi-atory,)  encircling  the  centre  and  wings 
of  the  entire  Palace.  At  the  extremities  of  this  spacious  cor- 
ridor are  covered  passages,  supported  by  columns,  and  also 
underground  passages,  which  form  elegant  covered  ways,  lead- 
ing to  every  part  of  the  edifice  and  to  the  rural  buildings. 

These  galleries  are  particularly  necessary  in  Association  as 
changes  of  occupations  are  very  frequent.  If  in  passing  from 
hall  to  hall,  or  from  the  stables  to  the  workshops,  it  were  ne- 
cessary to  go  through  the  open  air,  people  in  Association  would 
at  the  end  of  a  week  of  cold  winter  weather,  be  attacked  with 
colds  and  pleurisies,  whatever  their  bodily  strength  might  be, 
A  state  of  things  which  requires  such  frequent  changes,  renders 
covered  communications  indispensable. 

The  Gallery  must  extend  along  the  first  story ;  it  could  not 
be  placed  in  the  basement  or  ground-story,  as  carriage  ways 

must  pass  through  it.    The  Galleries  wind  along  one  side  only 

24* 


372  EDIFICE    OF    THE    PHALANX. 

of  the  edifice ;  they  are  constructed  in  the  different  ranges  of 
buildings ;  all  these  ranges  contain  a  double  row  of  rooms,  one 
of  which  looks  upon  the  fields  or  gardens,  the  other  upon  the 
Gallery.      The    Gallery  consequently  will    be   the   height  of 
the  three  stories,  which  on  one  side  will  front  upon  it.  * 

The  entrance  to  all  the  apartments  of  the  first,  second  and 
third  stories,  is  from  the  Gallery;  flights  of  stairs  are  placed 
at  intervals  to  ascend  to  the  upper  stories.  The  large  stair-ways 
lead  only  to  the  first  story ;  but  two  large  lateral  stair-cases  lead 
to  the  fourth  or  attic  story,  which  can  be  divided  into  sleeping 
rooms,  and  made  use  of  on  occasions  of  great  festivities  and 
celebrations,  or  when  large  numbers  of  travellers  are  passing. 

The  Gallery  will,  in  the  centre  of  the  Palace,  be  about  twen- 
ty-four feet  wide,  and  in  the  wings,  about  eighteen  feet.  The 
width  of  the  building  may  be  estimated  at  seventy-two  feet 
in  the  clear,  divided  as  follows : 

T»U    n  11  OA  c    *~\  72  feet  in  th*" 

The  Gallery, 18  to  24  feet     clear>_ba]. 

Range  of  rooms  fronting  on  the  Gallery,    20    ,,     Iconics    and 
Range  of  rooms  facing  the  fields,    ....  24    „     f  other  projec- 

Two  interior  walls,     4    „        *fe?°^in' 

J  eluded. 

The  public  halls  and  saloons  can,  with  these  dimensions,  b* 
forty-eight  feet  wide,  and  front  on  the  Gallery  and  on  the  fields 
and  gardens.  In  reserving  forty-eight  feet  for  the  width  of  the 
two  rows  of  apartments,  alcoves  or  small  side  rooms  can  be 
constructed  in  them,  which  will  save  a  great  deal  of  space ;  for 

*  The  Gallery  will  be  within  the  edifice,  and  the  roof  will  project 
over  it  It  will  not  be  constructed  outside  of  the  building,  as  we 
sometimes  see  piazzas. 


EDIFICE    OF    THE    PHALANX.  373 

an  alcove  eight  feet  deep  is  almost  equal  to  a  second  room. 
The  lodgings  of  persons  of  the  most  humble  fortune,  will  be  a 
room  with  its  alcove. 

The  windows  of  the  Gallery  can  be  high  and  arched,  like 
those  of  a  church ;  it  is  not  necessary  that  there  should  be  three 
rows  of  windows  in  it,  as  there  are  in  the  three  stories,  which 
front  upon  it. 

The  kitchens  and  also  some  public  halls  will  be  placed  in  the 
basement;  they  can,  if  necessary,  extend  through  the  semi- 
story.  A  small  gallery  will  also  run  along  the  basement,  ex- 
cept where  interrupted  by  the  carriage  ways. 

In  the  floors  of  the  dining  halls  on  the  first  story,  large  open- 
ings or  traps,  like  those  of  theatres,  will  be  constructed,  which 
will  open  and  allow  the  tables,  set  in  the  kitchens  below,  to  be 
raised  up  through  them. 

To  pass  a  winter's  day  in  the  Palace  of  a  Phalanx,  to  visit 
^11  parts  of  it  without  exposure  to  the  inclemency  of  the  weather, 
to  go  to  balls  or  to  the  opera  in  light  shoes  and  dress  without 
being  incommoded  by  the  cold  or  having  to  pass  through  mud- 
dy streets,  would  be  a  charm  so  new  that  it  would  alone  ftuf- 
fice  to  render  our  palaces  and  cities  detestable.  If  an  edifice, 
like  that  of  a  Phalanx,  were  erected  and  adapted  to  the  usages 
of  civilization,  the  convenience  alonp  of  covered  communica- 
tions, warmed  in  winter  and  ventilated  in  summer,  would  give 
a  very  great  value  to  it.  Its  rents  wonld  for  the  same  number 
rooms,  be  double  those  of  our  present  buildings. 

The  apartments  are  rented  by  the  Council  to  the  members. 
The  Series  of  apartments  should  be  distributed  in  a  compound 
or  connected,  and  not  in  a  simple  order ,-  that  is  to  say,  if  they 


374  EDIFICE    OF    THE    PHALANX. 

'..e  let  at  different  prices,  varying  from  twenty,  forty,  sixty, 
etc.,  to  four  hundred  dollars,  care  must  be  taken  to  avoid  a 
regular  and  continued  progression,  according  to  which  all  the 
high  priced  suits  of  rooms  would  be  placed  in  the  centre  of  the 
Palace,  and  all  the  low  priced  ones  in  the  wings ;  the  follow- 
ing distribution  should  be  observed. 

MODE  OF  DISTRIBUTION  OF  APARTMENTS  IN  ASSOCIATION  ACCORDING 
TO    A    SYSTEM    OF    COMPOUND    OR    INTERLACED    PROGRESSION. 

20.       40.       60.       80.     100. 
In  the  two  sub-wings.  * 

60.       80.     100.     120.     140. 

In  the  two  wings.         100'     120'     140'     160'     180'     200' 
160.     180.     200.     220.     240.     260. 

In  the  centre       220'     24°-     260'     280'     300'     320'     340' 
280.     300.     320.     340.     360.     380.     400. 

The  simple,  or  regularly  increasing  and  decreasing  progres- 
sion, would  be  extremely  defective. 

In  principle,  it  would  be  false,  because  all  the  elements  of 
Association  should  act  in  a  compound,  and  not  in  a  simple 
order. 

In  its  practical  application,  it  would  be  bad,  as  it  would  wound 
the  pride  of  people  and  paralyze  many  of  the  means  of  accord  and 
harmony.  The  simple  progression  would  concentrate  all  the 
poorer  classes  in  the  wings ;  the  apartments  of  the  wings  and 
the  sub-wings  would  soon  be  lowered  in  public  estimation,  and 
those  who  occupied  them,  would  be  considered  as  an  inferior 

*  That  is,  if  the  first  room  be  let  at  twenty  dollars,  the  second 
should  be  at  sixty,  the  third  at  forty,  the  fourth  at  eighty,  and  so 
on  in  an  irregular  progression. 


EDIFICE   OF    THE    PHALANX.  375 

class.  The  simple  distribution  must  be  avoided,  as  it  would 
prevent  intermingling  and  alliances  of  classes. 

The  compound  progression,  as  above  described,  should  con- 
sequently be  adopted ;  by  its  means  a  man  or  a  woman,  whose 
apartments  were  in  the  centre  or  most  elegant  quarter  of  the  Pa- 
lace, might  be  less  wealthy  than  a  person,  whose  apartments 
were  in  the  wings ;  for  the  highest  priced  rooms  of  the  latter, 
which  are  valued  at  two  hundred  and  sixty  dollars,  may  be 
more  desirable  than  the  lowest  priced  ones  of  the  former,  valued 
at  two  hundred  and  twenty.  This  mode  of  regulating  the  prices 
of  apartments  will  give  importance  and  value  to  the  wings  or 
extremities,  and  prevent  distinctions,  which  would  in  various 
ways  be  offensive  to  personal  pride.  Too  great  care  cannot  be 
taken  to  avoid  this  defect;  like  every  operation,  which  is  based 
on  simple  action,  it  wonld  be  a  source  of  discord. 

We  will  not  speak  at  present  of  the  stables,  which  must  be 
distributed  very  differently  from  those  of  civilization,  nor  of  the 
arrangement  of  the  manufactories  and  workshops.  What  wr 
have  here  said  has  reference  only  to  the  main  edifice,  the  ar- 
rangement of  one  part  of  which,  the  Gallery  or  general  hall  of 
communication,  proves  that  the  civilizees  with  thirty  centuries 
of  experience,  have  discovered  nothing  on  the  subject  of  archi- 
tectural unity.  This  ignorance  is  the  necessary  result  of  an 
order  of  things,  which,  deviating  in  every  way  from  a  spirit  of 
unity  and  Association,  favors  only  discord,  poverty,  bad  taste 
and  all  the  material  and  passional  defects,  which  arise  from 
Simple  Action.  V.'yji'; 

"••  •«  .  ;'•:   u-  -oobi/J  ..: 


976  DOMAIN    OF 


CHAPTER   TWENTY-NINTH. 

DOMAIN    OF    THE    PHALANX. 
§    I- 

We  have  spoken  of  the  edifices  of  a  Phalanx;  we 
will  now  give  a  general  idea  of  its  domain.  The  Sys- 
tem of  Cultivation  pursued  in  Association,  admits  of 
three  amalgamated  methods  or  orders,  which  we  will 
compare  to  the  three  orders  of  architecture: 

1.   The  Simple  or  Massive  Order,  to  the        Doric. 

'2.    The   Mixed   or  Vague  Order,  to  the         Ionic. 

3.   The  Compound  or  Interlaced  Order, 
to  the  Corinthian. 

1st.  The  Simple  or  Massive  Order,  is  that  which 
excludes  the  intermingled  Cultivation  of  Fruits,  Grains 
and  Vegetables  on  the  same  ground.  It  exists  in  full 
in  grain-growing  districts,  where  all  is  cultivated  fields 
on  one  side,  and  all  woodlands  on  the  other;  although 
among  the  Wheat  lands,  there  are  many  spots  better 
adapted  to  other  productions,  especially  to  Vegetables: 
as  in  the  woodlands,  there  are  gentle  slopes  suited  to 
the  cultivation  of  Fruit-trees,  of  the  Vine,  etc.,  and 
plains  adapted  to  lawns  and  glades.  These  openings 
would  benefit  the  forests,  as  they  would  leave  spaces 


THE    PHALANX.  377 

for  the  action  of  the  sun's  rays  and  the  circulation  of 
the  air,  which  are  necessary  to  the  growth  of  the 
trees. 

2d.  The  Mixed  or  Vague  Order,  is  that  varied 
and  irregular  style  of  Cultivation,  which  we  see  in 
parks;  it  is  very  pleasing  when  judiciously  employed, 
but  insignificant,  when  applied  on  a  small  scale  as  in 
civilization,  where  hills  and  lakes  are  crowded  together 
in  a  space  not  larger  than  a  court-yard.  Association 
being  opposed  to  uniformity,  will  employ  at  various 
points  this  Vague  style,  particularly  where  the  country- 
is  broken;  it  admits,  as  if  by  accident,  of  the  combina- 
tion of  all  branches  of  Cultivation,  and  all  kinds  of 
occupations,  and  forms  an  agreeable  contrast  with  the 
other  orders. 

3d.  The  Compound  or  Interlaced  Order,  is  the  op- 
posite of  the  civilized  system,  according  to  which  every 
person  would  like,  if  possible,  to  surround  his  lands 
with  a  fortress,  and  entrench  himself  against  every 
thing  around  him.  This  is  judicious  in  civilization, 
in  a  society  which  is  a  collection  of  rogues  great  and 
small,  and  in  which  the  great  hang  the  small;  but  in 
the  Combined  order,  where  there  is  no  danger  of 
thefts,  the  most  extended  application  will  be  made  in 
its  system  of  cultivation  of  the  Compound  or  Inter- 
laced Order.  Each  Serie  will  extend  branches  in 
various  directions — will  extend  advanced  lines  and 
detached  plots  and  squares  into  the  grounds  of  all  those 
Series,  whose  centres  of  operation  are  distant  from  its 
own. 

The  Massive  Order  is  the  only  one,  which  bears  any 
resemblance  to  the  rude  system  of  the  civilizees,  who 
plant  all  the  flowers  in  one  place,  and  all  the  fruit-trees 


378  DOMAIN    OF 

in  another;  who  collect  all  the  meadows  on  one  side, 
and  all  the  grain  lands  on  the  other;  they  lay  out  their 
fields  without  connection,  and  their  whole  system  of 
cultivation  is  in  a  state  of  universal  incoherence  and 
methodical  excess. 

Each  individual  on  his  own  land,  however,  makes 
an  abuse  of  the  Interlaced  order,  for  wishing  to  raise, 
on  the  ground  he  owns,  all  productions  necessary  to 
his  consumption,  he  cultivates  twenty  kinds  of  grain 
and  vegetables  on  a  piece  of  land,  which  is  not  adapted 
to  one-half  of  them.  A  farmer  cultivates  indiscrimi- 
nately wheat  and  oats,  beets  and  cabbages,  hemp  and 
potatoes  upon  a  soil  adapted  to  wheat  alone,  and  then 
sows  with  wheat  entire  fields,  which  require  a  varied 
cultivation. 

Another  important  consideration  with  the  civilizees 
is  the  danger  of  thefts.  In  the  Combined  order  no 
risks  of  this  kind  will  exist,  and  the  system  of  culti- 
vation can  be  based  fully  on  the  adaptation  of  crops  to 
soils,  and  nothing  will  prevent  a  judicious  distribution 
in  this  respect.  This  distribution  is  regulated  by  the 
three  methods,  above  mentioned:  the  Massive,  the 
Vague  and  the  Interlaced;  the  combined  application  of 
which  is  necessary  in  Association  to  unite  Groups  and 
Series  occupied  differently,  and  concert  meetings  be- 
tween them  in  their  occupations,  so  as  to  interest  each 
other  in  their  pursuits. 

A  Phalanx,  cultivating  its  domain  as  if  it  were  the 
property  of  a  single  individual,  first  ascertains  the  best 
use  that  can  be  made  of  each  part  of  it,  the  diversity 
of  cultivation  of  which  it  is  susceptible,  and  the  acces- 


THE     PHALANX.  379 

sory  objects  which  can  be  cultivated  jointly  with  the 
pivotal  one  on  each  variety  of  soil.  The  object  of 
this  diversified  cultivation  is  to  bring  different  groups 
together  on  the  same  grounds,  so  as  not  to  leave  a 
group  isolated  in  its  work,  although  the  work  is  not 
continued  for  more  than  two  hours. 

For  this  reason,  each  branch  of  cultivation  is  Inter- 
laced and  connected  as  far  as  possible  with  every  other. 
The  gardens,  which  with  us  are  placed  near  the  dwell- 
ings, are  not  in  Association  concentrated  around,  and 
confined  to  the  vicinity  of  the  Palace  of  the  Phalanx; 
they  extend  to  the«fields;  and  detached  beds  and  plots 
of  flowers  and  vegetables,  which  diminish  by  degrees, 
are  interspersed  among  the  fruit  orchards,  meadows 
and  woodlands,  wherever  the  soil  permits.  In  the 
same  manner  the  orchards,  which  are  more  distant 
from  the  Palace,  have  clusters  of  fruit-trees  placed  in 
its  vicinity  as  connecting  points;  rows  are  also  scat- 
tered through  the  gardens,  between  the  beds  of  flowers 
and  vegetables,  and  along  the  walls. 

This  intermingling  of  various  branches  of  cultiva- 
tion, which  is  pleasing  to  the  eye,  is  more  important 
still,  as  it  promotes  sociability,  and  leads  to  friendly 
unions  between  Groups  and  Series.  The  Serie  de- 
voted to  the  cultivation  of  pears,  may  have  its  large 
orchards  three  quarters  of  a  mile  distant  from  the  gar- 
dens, but  it  connects  its  branch  of  cultivation  with  that 
of  the  gardens  by  planting  in  their  vicinity  a  cluster 
of  forty  or  fifty  trees,  of  such  varieties  as  are  best  adapt- 
ed to  the  soil.  This  cluster,  which  requires  the  atten- 
tion of  a  group  of  the  fruit  Serie,  gives  rise  to  frequent 


980  DOMAIN    OF 

meetings  between  its  members  and  those  of  the  groups 
of  gardeners.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Serie  occupied 
with  the  cultivation  of  the  gardens,  has  some  beds  and 
plots  of  flowers  and  vegetables  situated  in  the  imme- 
diate vicinity  of  the  large  pear-orchards;  and  at  times 
one  or  more  groups  of  gardeners  mingle  with  those  oc- 
cupied in  the  orchards,  from  a  coincidence  of  occupa- 
tions on  the  same  grounds. 

This  intermingling  of  groups  should  be  favored  in 
every  way;  occupations  should  be  so  distributed  that 
each  Serie  could  extend  plots  of  vegetables  and  flowers, 
or  clusters  of  trees  to  the  grounds  of  its  neighbors,  and 
bring  some  of  its  groups  in  contact  with  theirs.  This 
amalgamation  of  cultivation  and  occupations  will  give 
rise  to  meetings  of  groups,  and  the  divers  ties  which 
grow  out  of  them. 

Particular  care  should  also  be  taken  to  concert  meet- 
ings of  groups  of  the  two  sexes,  so  as  to  interest  them 
in  each  other's  branches  of  Industry.    If,  for  example, 
there  is  a  large  meeting  of  the  Serie  cultivating  pears 
at  its  principal  orchard,  situated  three  quarters  of  a 
mile  from  the  Palace,  it  should,  in  its  afternoon  work, 
see  united  with,  or  at  work  around  it, 
1st.   One  or  more   Groups   from  a  neighboring  Pha- 
lanx, come  to  take  part  with  it  in  its  occupations  of 
the  day. 

2d.  ^A  Group  of  lady-florists,  who  are  assembled  to 
cultivate  some  borders  of  flowers,  which  form  a  line 
between  the  pear-orchards  and  the  adjoining  fields, 
and  offer  an  agreeable  prospect  from  a  neighboring 
road. 


THE    PHALANX.  381 

3d.   A  Group  of  gardeners  assembled  to  cultivate  a  bed 

of  vegetables,  which  thrive  at  that  point. 
4th.  A  Group  of  strawberry  girls,  coming  from  their 

beds  in  the  woodland  glades,  situated  near  the  pear- 

o/chards. 

At  half-past  five,  a  repast  is  sent  from  the  Palace  for 
all  these  Groups;  and  as  it  is  the  Serie  of  pear-  growers, 
which  presides  on  the  occasion — the  other  Groups 
being  merely  detachments  of  Series— it  is  in  their 
Pavilion  that  the  repast  is  served.  It  is  a  slight  col- 
lation, which  occupies  half  an  hour,  and  at  which  all 
the  Groups  are  assembled;  the  repast  over,  they  dis- 
perse— forming  previously,  however,  friendly  ties, 
and  concerting  industrial  meetings  for  the  ensuing 
days. 

It  is  to  be  remarked,  that  these  meetings  of  Indus- 
trial Groups  are  not  mere  assemblages  for  amusement: 
they  call  out  strong  corporative  rivalries;  the  different. 
Groups  interest  themselves  in  each  others  pursuits, 
discuss  the  means  of  perfecting  their  branches  of  in- 
dustry, and  concert  measures  for  sustaining  the  indus- 
trial reputation  of  their  Phalanx  and  of  neighboring 
Phalanxes.  Every  thing  in  the  Combined  order  should 
tend  to  the  good  of  Industry  and  to  the  increase  of 
riches. 

Many  a  civilizee  will  probably  remark  that  he  would 
not  permit  his  wife  or  daughters  to  be  present  at  such 
assemblages.  In  Association  he  will  judge  differently , 
he  will  know  that  nothing  secret  can  there  take  place, 
as  all  their  actions  are  observed.  Besides,  as  marriages 
in  Association  will  be  extremely  easy,  and  that  with- 


382 


out  marriage  portions,  the  young  girls  will  be  sure  to 
find  suitable  matches  between  the  ages  of  sixteen  and 
twenty.  Up  to  that  time  they  can  be  left  at  full  liberty, 
because  they  supervise  each  other:  no  guard  is  so  sure 
as  the  eye  of  a  rival.  * 

§11. 

Association,  as  we  see,  requires  the  combined  em- 
ployment of  the  three  orders:  the  Interlaced,  the 
mixed,  and  the  Massive.  To  facilitate  the  amalgama- 
tion of  these  methods  of  cultivation,  they  must  be  con- 
nected and  united  wherever  the  soil  permits. 


*  The  dependent  condition  of  woman  in  a  pecuniary  point  of 
view  in  our  Societies,  is  the  principal  cause  of  the  prostitution  of 
female  virtue.  In  Association,  every  woman  will  be  perfectly  inde- 
pendent; in  its  system  of  Attractive  industry  she  will  acquire  riches  ; 
she  will  participate  in  all  social  advantages,  and  will  be  able  to  con- 
sult and  follow  freely,  the  true  inspirations  of  her  heart,  which  are 
always  noble.  There  is  a  much  more  delicate  sentiment  of  per- 
sonality in  woman  than  in  man — and  this  sentiment  is  the  founda- 
tion of  virtue.  When  the  position  of  woman  shall  allow  her  to  act 
in  accordance  with  the  true  and  natural  tendency  of  her  nature, 
when  she  can  dictate  the  laws,  which  regulate  her  destiny,  then 
society  will  possess  a  true  system  of  morality.  The  want  of  eleva- 
tion, or  rather  the  abasement  which  so  generally  exists  in  the  re- 
lations of  the  sexes,  arises  from  the  fact  that  man  alone  establishes 
the  laics  of  morality,  and  dictates  to  woman  her  line  of  conduct. 

In  Association,  let  a  moral  code  come  from  woman, — from  woman 
free  and  independent — who  has  no  favors  to  ask  of  man,  who  does 
not  live  upon  his  industry;  and  then  for  the  first  time  we  shall  see 
truth  and  dignity  established  in  the  intercourse  of  the  sexes,  or  in 
the  two  passions,  love  and  paternity, — then  we  shall  see  these 
branches  of  the  harmonies  of  human  nature  developed  with  purity 
and  elevation. 


THE    PHALANX.  383 

If  a  plot  of  ground  be  favorable  to  the  growth  of  six 
or  eight  kinds  of  fruits  or  vegetables ;  if  the  declivities 
and  sides  of  a  hill,  for  example,  admit  of  the  cultiva- 
tion on  its  different  parts:  first,  of  peas:  second,  of 
beans;  third,  of  carrots;  fourth,  of  onions;  fifth,  of 
apples;  sixth,  of  peaches;  seven' h,  of  the  vine;  these 
different  productions  should  be  cultivated  by  various 
Groups  on  its  different  sides,  facing  to  the  North, 
South,  East  and  West.  Each  Group  would  have  its 
Pavilion,  and  all  the  Groups  would  unite  to  maintain, 
at  their  joint  expense,  a  large  central  one. 

This  distribution  is  of  the  second  or  mixed  order. 
Association  proceeds  methodically  in  the  application 
of  these  three  orders;  upon  plains,  the  Interlaced 
method  is  adopted:  beds,  squares,  plots,  etc.,  of  fruits 
and  vegetables  are  laid  out  in  straight  or  curved  lines, 
in  regular  or  winding  beds,  according  to  the  varieties 
of  soil.  On  hill-sides,  the  mixed  or  irregular  order, 
which  requires  a  varied  system  of  cultivation  ac- 
cording to  slopes,  exposures  and  means  of  irrigation 
will  be  employed. 

This  connection  of  all  branches  of  cultivation 
whether  in  straight  or  right-angle  paralellograms,  or  in 
irregular  and  picturesque  plots,  forms  a  variety,  the 
aspect  of  which  is  as  pleasing  as  the  civilized  method  is 
monotonous.  This  method  has,  as  its  predominant 
defect,  the  excessive  use  of  the  Simple  or  Massive 
order;  vast  fields  are  sown  with  a  single  grain,  like 
wheat,  the  varieties  of  which  would  be  better  adapted 
to  other  kinds  of  soil;  or  it  falls  on  the  other  hand  into 
a  contrary  excess,  in  what  may  be  termed  a  diffuse 


384  DOMAIN    OF 

mixed  order  on  a  small  space;  as  in  case  where  three 
hundred  farming  families  cultivate  three  hundred  plots 
of  cabbages  on  three  hundred  pieces  of  ground,  hardly 
a  tenth  of  which  are  adapted  to  their  cultivation. 

A  Phalanx  cultivating  its  large  domain,  as  if  it  were 
the  farm  of  a  single  individual  unexposed  to  thefts, 
can  adopt  combinedly  the  three  systems  of  cultivation. 
Their  combination  would  unite  the  useful  with  the 
agreeable;  to  the  advantage  of  superior  production,  it 
would  add  beauty  of  prospect;  it  would  afford  also,  the 
means  of  assembling  Groups  on  the  same  grounds,  of 
Associating  them  in  their  rivalries,  of  increasing  their 
emulation  and  of  stimulating  them  to  greater  exer- 
tions. 

Such  a  system  of  cultivation  is  impossible  in  civi- 
lization, owing  to  the  small  scale  on  which  most 
branches  of  agriculture,  such  as  gardening  and  the 
raising  of  fruit,  are  carried  on, — branches  which  the 
danger  of  thefts  and  the  want  of  skilful  cultivators 
limit  to  the  tenth  part  of  their  proper  proportion. 

But  in  Association,  in  which  avast  deal  is  consumed 
and  a  vast  deal  exported,  every  branch  of  cultivation 
should,  if  possible,  be  developed  in  detail.  A  choice, 
however,  should  be  made  of  such  varieties  as  are  best 
adapted  to  the  forming  of  Series.  A  single  fruit,  like 
the  melon,  could  be  cultivated  in  scattered  plots,  inter- 
laced with  other  squares  and  beds,  so  as  to  combine  all 
the  conditions  necessary  for  the  formatipn  of  a  Serie. 
These  plots  scattered  over  a  domain  three  miles  square, 
could  be  connected  in  a  hundred  ways  with  beds  of 
flowers  and  vegetables,  and  favor  in  every  manner 


THE    PHALANX.  385 

i 

meetings  of  Groups  and  their  connection  in  Industry. 
The  cultivation  of  fruits,  flowers,  vegetables  and 
grains,  the  care  of  meadows,  forests,  reservoirs  for  fish, 
etc.,  should  be  connected  and  interlaced  in  every  possi- 
ble manner  in  order  to  mingle  groups  and  Series,  and 
give  activity  to  their  rivalries. 

When  the  Compound  or  Interlaced  Order,  which  i» 
the  most  beautiful,  cannot  be  employed,  the  mixed  or 
second  order,  which  is  well  suited  to  the  formation  of 
ties  and  connexions,  can  be  adopted;  the  civilized  or 
simple  method,  that  is,  the  Massive  Order  will  be 
madeuse  of  in  locations  only,  where  no  other  can  be 
followed.  And  in  cases  even  where  the  nature  of  the 
soil  renders  that  order  necessary,  care  will  be  taken 
to  diversify  it  by  the  introduction  of  borders  of  flowers 
and  rural  ornaments. 

The  Massive  Order,  however,  is  not  disagreeable;  it 
is  noble  even  when  judiciously  employed  and  surroun- 
ded properly  with  other  branches  of  cultivation;  it  is 
insipid  in  civilization  from  its  general  application, 
and  from  the  absence  of  embellishments. 

In  the  Massive  Order,  which  comprizes  the  more  la- 
borious branches  of  agriculture,  women  will  only  lake 
an  accessory  part;  they  will  devote  themselves  to  the 
care  of  the  borders  of  flowers  and  shrubbery  and  other 
embellishments. 

We  see  at  present  in  some  countries  partial  exam- 
ples of  the  interlacing  of  different  branches  of  cultiva- 
tion: for  example  in  vineyards  on  high  grounds, 
where,  under  alleys  of  therry,  plum  and  other  fruit 
trees,  rows  of  wheat,  corn  and  vegetables  are  cultivated 

25 


386  DOMAIN   OF 

These  interlacings  present  a  feeble  image  of  the  ma 
teriul  arrangement  of  one  of  the  three  orders,  but 
not  of  the  passional,  as  they  do  not  lead  to  any  of 
those  unions  of  different  groups,  which  they  frequently 
produce  in  Association, — unions  which  at  their  termi- 
nal ion,  are  enlivened  with  a  collation  or  slight  repast. 

Before  leaving  this  subject,  we  must  insist  particu- 
larly on  the  necessity  of  combining  the  three  orders. 
So  poor  an  application  is  now  made  of  them,  that  they 
are  mere  caricatures  of  what  they  should  be.  We  can 
judge  of  the  fact  by  the  Mixed  or  Vague  Order,  to 
which  we  see  an  approach  in  some  of  the  elegant  and 
picturesque  ro\al  gardens  of  Europe. 

These  gardens  are,  like  the  shepherds  and  the  pas_ 
toral  scenes  of  theatres,  pleasing  examples  of  the 
beautiful  in  agriculture;  they  give  on  a  small  scale 
some  slight  idea  of  what  the  distribution  of  a  domain 
in  Association  would  be;  but  they  are  bodies  without 
souls,  as  we  see  no  groups  of  workmen  employed  in 
them.  It  is  better  so  than  to  see  the  poor  and  op- 
pressed laborers  of  civilization. 

Such  gardens  should  be  animated  by  the  presence 
of  twenty  or  thirty  industrial  groups,  with  their  dis- 
play of  elegant  implements,  costumes,  etc.  The  Com- 
bined Order  will,  in  occupations  most  exposed  to  dirt, 
introduce  a  comparative  elegance;  the  gray  frocks  of 
a  group  pf  ploughmen,  the  blue-spotted  ones  of  a 
group  of  mowers,  will  be  set  off  by  borders,  girdles 
and  distinctive  ornaments  of  their  Series;  the  wagons 
and  harnesses  can  be  also  neatly  ornamented,  and  the 
ornaments  so  arranged  as  not  to  be  exposed  to  dirt. 


THE    PHALANX.  3S7 

Could  we  see  in  a  beautiful  valley  cultivated  ac- 
cording to  the  mixed  or  vague  order,  all  these  groups 
in  activity,  shaded  by  coloured  awnings,  working  in 
scattered  companies,  marching  to  the  sound  of  instru- 
ments and  singing  in  chorus  as  they  changed  1-he  loca- 
tion of  their  work;  then  see  the  domain  studded  with 
bowers  and  pavilions  with  their  colonnades  and 
spires,  instead  of  huts  and  hovels,  we  would  believe 
the  country  enchanted,  imagine  it  a  fairy  scene;  still 
it  would  be  comparitively  monotonous,  for  it  would 
embrace  only  one  of  the  three  agricultural  orders; — 
the  mixed  or  vague.  We  would  not  see  the  Interlaced 
Order,  which  is  much  more  brilliant,  and  which  gives 
to  the  domain  covered  with  its  beds  of  flowers  and 
vegetables  and  its  fields  of  grain  the  appearance  of  a 
vast  army,  executing  different  evolutions,  each  repre- 
sented by  some  vegetable  Serie. 

Instead  of  the  charm  and  elegance  of  this  unitary 
system  of  cultivation,  we  see  in  the  fields  of  civiliza- 
tion a  miserable  and  ruinous  confusion.  Three  hun- 
dred families  cultivate  three  hundred  beds  of  peas  or 
onions,  which  are  laid  out  without  order  or  regularity, 
and  which  form  a  complete  burlesque  of  the  connected 
or  interlaced  method,  according  to  which  on  the 
grounds  of  a  Phalanx  three  hundred  beds  of  a  vegeta- 
ble would  be  divided  into  squares  of  genus,  species 
varieties  and  shades  of  varieties,  adapted  to  souls 
and  connected  by  divisions  which  would  form  the 
wings,  centres  and  transitions  of  the  Serie. 

Let  us  apply  this  method  to  the  cultivation  of  some 
favorite  fruit  and  vegetable,  for  example  to  melons  and 

25» 


388  DOMAIN    OF 

peas.  The  Serie  of  melon-growers,  to  take  advantage 
of  all  varieties  of  soils,  may  extend  its  operations  for 
a  mile  in  length,  and  so  divide  its  grounds  as  to  form 
three  divisions,  thirty  plots,  and  three  hundred  beds. 

If  we  suppose  the  centre  of  the  Serie  at  work  in 
front  of  the  Palace,  the  right  wing  to  the  east  and  the 
left  wing  to  the  west,  there  may  be  the  distance  of  a 
mile  from  one  wing  to  the  other.  These  three  divi- 
sions will  extend  their  beds  of  transition  in  various 
directions,  and  interlace  them  with  the  beds  and  squares 
of  other  Series. 

The  same  day  that  the  groups  cultivating  peas  are 
at  work  along  the  foot  of  the  hills,  we  will  suppose 
that  the  Serie  of  melon-growers  is  engaged  on  the 
sides,  that  its  banners  are  hoisted  on  its  pavilions  sur- 
mounted with  gilt  melons,  and  that  both  the  Series 
are  increased  in  numbers  by  groups  from  neighboring 
Phalanxes,  who  have  come  to  take  part  in  the  work. 

The  scene,  which  is  highly  animated  by  these  scat- 
tered groups,  will  be  still  more  so  by  the  ardor  and 
gaiety  which  animate  them, — ardor  and  gaiety,  which 
are  banished  from  the  occupations  of  our  hired  labo- 
rers, who  stop  at  every  moment,  resting  on  their 
spades  and  gaping  around  for  diversion. 

If  on  such  an  occasion  some  philosopher  or  poli- 
tician, in  traversing  the  country,  were  to  contemplate 
from  his  carriage  the  beautiful  spectacle  which  all 
these  Series  in  action  would  present,  with  their  groups, 
their  banners  and  awnings  scattered  along  the  emi- 
nences, and  through  the  valley,  "studded  with  rich 
pavilions  in  the  centre  of  which  rises  the  Palace  of 
the  Phalanx,  overlooking  majestically  the  domain, — 


THE    PHALANX.  389 

he  would  believe  himself  transported  to  a  new  world, 
and  begin  to  think  that  the  earth,  when  governed  ac- 
cording to  the  Combined  or  Divine  Order,  will  eclipse 
in  beauty  all  that  our  poets  have  imagined  of  the 
Olympic  abodes. 

To  return  to  details:  two  Series  cultivating  different 
fruits  or  vegetables,  will  take  care  not  to  form,  like 
the  civilizees,  large  isolated  beds  or  plots,  without 
connection.  They  will,  as  we  have  before  remarked, 
avail  themselves  of  every  variety  of  soil  and  exposure 
to  connect  and  interlace  their  branches  of  cultivation 
with  all  others  around  them. 

Notwithstanding  the  extent  of  grounds  over  which 
a  Serie  may  extend  its  operations,  there  will  not  be 
connected  with  its  work  the  thirtieth  part  of  the  com- 
plication which  now  exists  in  the  cultivation  of  three 
hundred  little  gardens,  nine-tenths  of  which  perhaps 
are  badly  located  for  the  cultivation  of  a  vegetable, 
like  the  pea,  and  the  soil  of  which  is  unadapted  to  its 
different  varieties.  On  the  domain  of  a  Phalanx  on 
the  contrary  all  varieties  could  be  cultivated,  for  beds 
of  them  could  be  scattered  over  its  surface,  and  located 
where  nothing  else  would  thrive  as  well. 

When  grounds  are  equally  well  adapted  to  various 
productions,  their  beds  and  squares  are  interlaced  ac- 
cording to  the  third  order.  It  is  by  the  union  of  thi> 
third  order  with  the  second  or  Vague,  and  the  first  or 
massive  with  its  borders,  that  the  fields  of  a  Phalanx 
seen  from  a  height,  will  present  in  the  vegetable  king- 
dom the  appearance  of  several  large  armies,  or  of  the 
successive  evolutions  which  a  single  one  may  perform. 
The  forests  even  will  offer  this  varied  aspect,  because 
they  will  be  diversified  by  numerous  cultivated  lawns 


390  DOMAIN   OF 

and  glades,  the  distribution  of  which,  enters  into  the 
system  of  the  amalgamation  of  the  three  orders. 

To  give  life  and  animation  to  the  fields,  it  is  of  but 
little  consequence  what  Series  are  engaged.  The 
scene  will  be  more  enlivened,  more  diversified,  if  in- 
stead of  two  Series,  furnishing  sixty  groups,  detach- 
ments of  thirty  Series,  each  furnishing  two  groups, 
are  employed. 

Thus  on  a  fine  morning,  if  instead  of  seeing  sixty 
groups  occupied  with  the  cultivation  of  melons  and 
p'eas,  there  are  but  two,  to  which  fifty-eight  others  are 
added,  some  cultivating  asparagus  and  lettuce,  some 
carrots  and  onions,  the  fields  will  have  a  gayer  ap- 
pearance; it  will  answer,  however,  if  they  are  occupied 
by  a  large  number  of  groups  at  work,  and  if  the 
scene  in  the  distance  is  sufficiently  animated  by  per- 
sons in  action. 

As  occupations  are  of  short  duration,  a  general  move- 
ment among  the  groups  is  often  seen  as  they  change 
their  positions  at  half  past  six,  eight  and  ten  in  the 
morning,  and  also  in  the  afternoon.  Nothing  of  this 
activity  exists  in  the  lonesome  fields  of  civilization, 
where  the  laborer  is  occupied  the  entire  day  through 
with  the  same  work. 

The  charm  of  these  rural  scenes  would  be  dimin- 
ished, if  the  fields  were  cultivated,  as  they  are  at  pre- 
sent, by  poor  laborers,  whose  condition  excited  pity- 
It  would  be  the  beautiful  in  Nature  separated  from  the 
welfare  of  the  laboring  mass; — a  constant  contradiction 
of  civilization,  in  which  the  beautiful  exists  only  at 
the  expense  of  the  useful.  Whatever  is  beautiful  in 
gardens  and  edifices  in  this  society,  is  unproductive; 
and  on  the  other  hand,  what  is  useful  and  productive, — 


THE    PHALANX.  391 

cultivated  fields  and  manufactories, — offer  a  painful 
spectacle  to  the  benevolent  man;  he  sees  them  filled 
with  destitute  workmen  whose  primary  wants  are 
hardly  satisfied,  exposed  in  the  fields  to  a  hot  sun 
without  refreshments,  or  an  awning  to  shade  them,  or 
confined  in  close  and  unhealthy  .manufactories;  while 
in  some  neighboring  town  or  city  the  idle  rich  and 
loungers  in  gardens  and  places  of  amusement,  are  sup- 
plied with  ice-creams,  wines  and  every  delicacy. 

These  pleasures  of  civilization  will,  in  Association 
be  allied  with  the  charms  of  productive  industry.  If 
a  hundred  groups  are  at  work  scattered  over  the  do- 
main of  a  Phalanx,  each  will  be  provided  with  these 
luxuries,  which  in  civilization  the  rich  alone  enjoy; 
each  will  have  refreshments  of  various  kinds  in  its  pa- 
vilion, such  as  fruits,  preserves,  wines,  etc,;  and  if  the 
occupation  is  not  of  the  kind,  which  ends  with  a  re- 
past at  the  pavilion  of  some  Serie,  refreshments  will 
be  sent  from  the  Palace  to  the  different  groups. 
Thus  the  useful  and  the  beautiful,  which  are  in  dis- 
cord in  civilization,  will  universally  be  allied  in  the 
Combined  or  Divine  order. 

How  many  errors  have  been  committed  by  philoso- 
phers and  politicians,  who  pretend  to  point  out  to  the 
world  the  paths  to  social  happiness,  not  one  of  whom 
has  had  genius  enough  to  comprehend  that  neither 
justice  nor  happiness  are  compatible  with  civilization, 
and  that  so  far  from  endeavoring  to  introduce  them 
into  this  society,  which  is  a  sink  of  vices,  true  wisdom 
would  consist  in  replacing  civilization  by  Association, 
which  is  the  only  avenue  to  social  good. 


392  EDUCATION. 


EDUCATION. 


CHAPTER  THIRTIETH. 

EDUCATION    OF    EARLY    INFANCY,  EXTENDING    TO    THE 
AGE    OF    TWO    YEARS. 

§1. 

There  is  no  problem  upon  which  more  contradic- 
tory theories  have  been  promulgated  than  upon  that 
of  public  instruction  and  its  methods.  To  see  clearly, 
in  this  confusion  of  systems,  let  us  first  determine  the 
object  to  be  attained. 

In  all  the  operations  of  Association,  the  great  object 
of  attainment  is  UNITY.  To  introduce  Unity  into 
Education,  it  must  be  COMPOUND  and  INTEGRAL. 

To  be  Compound,  it  must  develope  combinedly 
both  the  body  and  the  mind  ;  the  present  systems  of 
Education  fulfil  neither  of  these  two  conditions  ;  they 
neglect  the  body,  and  pervert  the  passions. 

To  be  Integral,  it  must  embrace  all  parts  of  the 
body  and  all  the  faculties  and  passions,  and  give  per- 
fection to  both.  Our  present  systems  do  not  perfect 
the  body,  and  they,  vitiate  the  passions  by  selfishness 
and  duplicity. 

The  Education  of  Association  will  develope  at  the 
earliest  possible  period  in  children  all  vocations  for 
which  an  instinct  is  perceptible,  and  will  direct  every 


EDUCATION.  393 

individual  to  the  various  functions  to  which  Nature 
destines  him.  This  natural  order  is  completely  derang- 
ed by  our  civilized  systems,  which,  with  rare  excep- 
tions, employs  every  being  in  opposition  to  his  natural 
capacity  or  vocation. 

No  question  is  so  little  understood  as  that  of  na- 
tural instincts  for  vocations,  or  capacities  for  scieh- 
tific,  artistic  and  industrial  functions.  The  Education 
of  Association  will  fully  solve  this  problem.  It  will 
not  develope  in  the  child  one  talent  alone,  or  the  ca- 
pacity for  a  single  vocation,  but  twenty  or  thirty 
varied  and  predominant  in  different  degrees. 

Riches,  being  the  first  object  of  attainment — the 
first  tendency  of  our  passional  nature — the  Education 
of  Association  should  commence  by  directing  the  child 
to  productive  Industry;  to  do  so  successfully,  it  must 
destroy  a  shameful  characteristic  of  civilization,  which 
does  not  exist  In  the  savage  state;  that  is,  the  coarse- 
ness and  rudeness  of  the  lower  classes,  and  the  dif- 
ference between  them  and  the  higher  classes  in  lan- 
guage and  manners.  This  characteristic  is  believed 
necessary  by  many  in  civilization,  as  the  laboring 
multitude,  oppressed  by  poverty,  would  feel  too  keenly 
their  misery,  if  they  were  polished  and  educated;  but 
in  the  Combined  order,  as  the  mass  will  possess  an 
ample  sufficiency,  it  will  not  be  necessary  to  brutalize 
them  in  order  to  inure  them  to  hardships,  which  will 
cease  to  exist,  and  to  fit  them  to  the  monotonous 
drudgery 'of  civilization,  which  in  Association  will 
give  place  to  a  system  of  Attractive  Industry. 

Attractive  Industry  will  render  politeness  and  affa- 
bility necessary  among  all  classes  ;  for  if  Industry  in 
Association  is  to  attract  and  interest  the  rich  as  well 


394  EDUCATION. 

as  the  poor  in  its  occupations,  coarseness  of  manners 
or}  the  part  of  the  latter  would  be  alone  sufficient  to 
counterbalance  the  charms  which  Attractive  Industry 
should  offer  to  the  former.  The  richer  classes  would 
not  take  pleasure  in  exercising  Industry  with  coarse 
workmen,  or  in  mingling  with  them  in  the  series. 
Thus  to  promote  the  welfare  of  the  mass,  and  to  induce 
the  rich  to  take  part  in  Industry,  it  is  important  that 
all  classes  in  Association  should  be  polished;  the  poorer 
classes  should  vie  in  politeness  with  the  richer,  in 
order  to  combine,  in  the  exercise  of  Industry,  the 
charm  of  personal  intercourse  with  the  pleasure  of 
occupations. 

General  urbanity  and  unity  of  language  and  man- 
ners can  only  result  from  a  uniform  system  of  educa- 
tion, which  will  give  to  the  poor  child  the  manners 
and  tone  of  the  rich.  If  there  were  in  the  Combined 
order  different  systems  of  education  for  the  rich,  poor 
and  middling  classes,  as  there  are  in  civilization,  the 
same  result  which  we  now  see,  that  is,  incompatability 
of  classes  and  duplicity  of  manners,  would  take  place. 
Such  an  effect  would  produce  general  discord;  it  is 
consequently  the  first  defect  which  the  policy  of  Asso- 
ciation should  avoid;  it  will  do  so  by  a  system  of 
education,  which  will  be  ONE  AND  THE  SAME  for  the 
entire  Phalanx,  as  well  as  for  the  entire  globe,  and 
which  will  every  where  establish  unity  and  politeness 
of  manners. 

From  the  moment  labor  is  rendered  attractive,  it 

becomes  necessary  that  the  working  classes  should  be 

polished  and  well  educated.     It  would  be   a  serious 

obstacle  to  the  ennobling  of  industry,  if  those  classes 

ined  the  vulgar  manners  of  civilization;  for  they 


EDUCATION.  395 

must  mingle  continually  with  the  rich  in  the  attrac- 
tive occupations  of  the  Series.  To  give  charm  and 
freedom  to  this  intercourse,  elegance  of  manners  and 
general  politeness  must  exist.  People  in  Association, 
will  have  as  much  friendship  for  each  other  as  in 
civilization,  they  have  dislike  and  hatred.  The  Pha- 
lanx will  consider  itself  as  a  single  family  perfectly 
united;  and  an  opulent  family  cannot  wish  that  one  of 
its  members  should  be  deprived  of  the  education, 

which  the  others  have  received. 

* 

§11. 

Another  great  problem  which  the  education  of  the 
Combined  order  will  solve,  is  the  employment  of  the 
characters  of  a  Nero,  Tiberius,  Louis  the  Eleventh, 
as  usefully  as  those  of  a  Titus,  Henry  the  Fourth,  or  a 
Washington. 

To  attain  this  end,  it  will  be  necessary  to  commence 
from  the  cradle,  a  frank  development  of  the  natural 
character  of  the  child,  which  the  domestic  Education 
of  civilization  tends  to  misdirect  and  smother  from 
early  childhood. 

We  will  remark  before  proceeding  farther,  that  the 
maintenance  of  the  two  extreme  ages;  that  is — of  little 
children  up  to  their  third  year,  and  of  persons  ex- 
tremely advanced  in  age  or  infirm,  is  considered  in 
Association  as  a  branch  of  Social  Charity:  the  Phalanx 
in  consequence,  will  bestow,  gratuitously,  every  care 
upon  the  child  until  it  is  three  years  old.  The  Asso- 
ciation defrays  all  the  expenses  of  the  nurseries  where 
the  children  are  taken  care  of.  (If  this  gratuitous  care 
be  not  extended  beyond  the  third  year,  it  is  because 


396  EDUCATION. 

children  after  that  age,  will  make  themselves  useful 
enough  to  pay  the  slight  expense  of  their  mainte- 
nance, )  The  Serie  of  nurses  and  assistant  nurses  will, 
like  other  series,  be  paid  by  a  dividend  out  of  the 
general  product. 

The  guide  to  be  followed  in  the  details  of  Educa- 
tion, is  the  same  as  in  the  whole  mechanism  of  Asso- 
ciation; the  great  object  is  to  form  Series  of  function- 
aries and  functions;  following  this  rule,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  form  a  Serie  of  nurses  and  a  Serie  of 
nursery-rooms,  and  to  class  the  children  according  to 
a  Serie  of  groups,  which  is  determined  by  characters 
and  ages. 

Early  infancy,  which  extends  to  the  age  of  two 
years,  comprises  two  classes  of  children,  which  we 
will  call  Sucklings  and  Weaned. 

These  two  classes  are  subdivided  without  distinction 
of  sex,  into  three  divisions,  forming  a  Serie  of  charac- 
ters, as  follows: 

Sucklings    f    The  Quiet  or  Good-natured, 
and       <J    The  Restless  or  Noisy. 

Weaned,     (_    The  Turbulent  or  Intractable. 

Two  nurseries,  one  for  the  Sucklings,  and  another 
for  the  Weaned,  will  be  necessary;  each  nursery  will 
contain  three  rooms,  for  the  three  kinds  of  characters; 
besides,  side-rooms  for  the  Nurses  and  Doctors;  the 
latter  will  visit  the  children  daily  without  distinction 
of  fortune. 

The  rooms  occupied  by  these  three  classes  of  chil- 
dren, must  be  sufficiently  separated  to  prevent  the 
Turbulent  from  annoying  with  their  screams  the 


EDUCATION.  397 

Quiet  or  even  the  Restless,  who  are  rather  more 
manageable. 

The  Nurses  are  in  constant  attendance;  they  are 
divided  into  Groups,  and  have  their  duty  to  perform 
by  turns,  so  that  they  are  relieved  every  two  hours. 
At  no  moment  of  the  night  or  day  must  the  nurseries 
be  without  experienced  overseers,  who  are  skilful  in 
comprehending  and  satisfying  all  the  wants  of  the  chil- 
dren. The  mother,  if  she  chooses,  has  no  other  duty 
than  to  attend  at  certain  hours  for  the  purpose  of  nurs- 
ing the  child.  This  duty  performed,  she  can  be  absent 
from  it,  and  devote  herself  to  all  the  occupations  of  the 
Series  to  which  she  belongs.  She  can  even  be  absent 
a  day  without  inconvenience,  for  there  are  always  sup- 
plementary Nurses  classed  according  to  temperaments, 
who  can  give  the  child  the  same  kind  of  milk  as  the 
mother.  These  precautions  are  unknown  and  imprac- 
ticable in  civilization;  they  are  among  the  numerous 
advantages  reserved  to  large  Associations,  distributed 
in  passional  Series.* 

A  Nurse  in  Association,  has  not,  like  the  hired 
nurses  of  civilization,  to  be  the  entire  day  in  the 
nursery.  She  has  only  to  attend  when  her  group  is  on 
duty.  This  service  would  become  irksome,  if  it  took 
place  daily;  the  Nurses  consequently  will  only  be 
required  to  be  in  attendance  one  day  out  of  three,  and 
during  the  two  days  of  interval,  they  will  not  have  to 
occupy  themselves  with  children,  but  can  take  part  in 

*  AH  perfect  liberty  in  all  relations  will  exit-t,  the  mother  can,  i: 
she  wish,  have  her  child  in  her  own  apartment*,  or  the  can  take 
part  with  the  Seric  of  nurse*,  and  be  with  it  constantly  in  the  large 
nurseries,  in  which  infinitely  more  care  can  be  bestowed  upon  it, 
than  could  be  in  her  own  room*. 


398  EDUCATION. 

the  occupations  of  the  other  Series  to  which  they  be- 
long. 

A  nurse  in  civilization  is  scolded  and  found  fault 
with,  by  those  who  pay  her  for  this  most  slavish  of 
duties;  in  the  Combined  order,  on  the  contrary,  she 
will  be  constantly  complimented  by  mothers,  who 
come  to  see  or  suckle  their  infants,  and  who  admire 
the  fine  condition  of  the  mats,  the  cradles  and  the  chil- 
dren. 

The  Nurses  and  Assistant  Nurses,  receive  not  only 
a  large  dividend  out  of  the  general  product,  they  are 
paid  also  by  high  honors;  they  are  considered  as  com- 
mon mothers,  and  hold  a  high  rank  in  all  festivities. 
Their  profession  secures  rapid  promotion  and  the  en- 
joyment of  important  social  privileges  and  distinctions. 
The  combination  of  all  these  inducements  is  necessary 
to  organize  a  Serie  with  a  passion  for  a  work  so  little 
attractive  in  itself. 

Civilization  with  its  simple  and  defective  methods, 
provides  only  a.  cradle  for  the  child  as  a  place  of  repose: 
Association,  whose  system  is  compound,  furnishes  the 
child,  in  addition  to  the  cradle,  an  elastic  mat.  The 
mats  are  suspended  upon  frames  about  four  feet  high; 
the  children  can  lay  and  roll  upon  them,  but  are  sepa- 
rated from  each  other  by  silken  nets.  These  nets  do 
not  prevent  them  from  moving  freely,  and  from  seeing 
the  other  children  around  them,  whom  they  can  ap- 
proach but  not  touch.  The  nursery  is  kept  suffi- 
ciently warm  to  admit  of  the  child  being  lightly  dressed, 
and  to  dispense  with  the  heavy  swadling  clothes  now 
used. 

The  cradles  are  moved  by  a  mechanical  contrivance, 
so  that  twenty  can  be  rocked  at  once.  A  child  will 


EDUCATION.  399 

perform  this  work,  which  now  requires  twenty 
women. 

In  Association,  the  most  opulent  mother  would 
never  think  of  bringing  up  her  child  isolatedly  in  her 
own  apartments.  Ij,  would  not  receive  one  quarter  of 
the  care,  which  would  be  bestowed  upon  it  in  the 
large  nurseries;  for  with  every  imaginable  expense,  a 
Serie  of  intelligent  Nurses,  whose  characters  were 
adapted  to  those  of  the  children,  with  a  passion  for 
their  occupation  could  not  be  procured.  The  richest 
mother  with  every  outlay,  could  not  have  a  nursery  of 
so  uniform  a  temperature,  with  elastic  mats,  and  the 
company  of  other  children  of  the  same  character,  who 
would  mutually  divert  and  amuse  each  other.  It  is 
particularly  in  the  Education  of  early  infancy  that  we 
shall  see  how  much  better  the  children  of  the  poorest 
man  in  Association  will  be  educated,  than  can  be 
those  of  the  richest  potentate  in  civilization. 

Every  thing  at  present  is  so  arranged  as  to  make  an 
infant  the  torment  of  an  entire  house,  and  at  the  same 
time  a  torment  to  itself.  The  child  desires  instinc- 
tively the  arrangement  and  comforts,  which  it  would 
find  in  the  nurseries  of  a  Phalanx,  and  for  want  of 
them,  it  distracts  by  its  cries,  parents,  servants  and 
neighbors,  while  it  injures  its  own  health. 

We  will  now  speak  of  the  first  germs  of  Intellectual 
Education,  which  are  given  in  Association  to  the 
child  during  the  first  and  second  years  of  its  nge.  This 
primary  Education,  the  most  wealthy  classes  cannot 
in  civilization  give  to  the  children.  A  great  expense 
is  often  incurred,  and  with  no  other  result  than  to  per- 
vert the  character  of  the  child,  and  to  misdirect  its  fa- 
culties and  to  injure  its  health. 


400  EDUCATION. 

At  the  age  of  six  moths,  a  period  at  which  in  civili- 
zation not  the  least  instruction  is  given  to  children, 
the  greatest  care  will  be  taken  in  Association  to  de- 
velope  and  refine  their  senses,  and  to  give  them  cor- 
poral dexterity;  the  exclusive  use  of  one  hand  or  arm, 
which  renders  the  other  awkward  and  in  part  useless, 
will  for  example  be  avoided.  A  correct  ear  for  music 
will  also  be  given  to  children  by  singing  trios  and 
quartettes  three  or  four  times  a  day  in  the  nurseries, 
and  by  teaching  those  who  are  old  enough,,  to  march 
to  the  sound  of  instruments.  Methods  will  also  be 
employed  to  add  acuteness  of  hearing  to  correctness 
of  ear,  and  to  give  to  the  child  the  delicacy  of  hearing 
of  the  Antelope  or  the  Indian;  the  other  senses  will  be 
developed  and  exercised  in  an  equal  degree. 

The  profession  of  Nurse,  consequently,  will  require 
numerous  qualifications,  and  will  not  merely  consist 
as  at  present,  in  singing  songs  out  of  tune,  and  in 
frightening  children  with  ghost  stories  to  keep  them 
quiet.  The  nurses  will  study  the  means  of  preventing 
their  cries,  as  calm  is  necessary  to  their  health. 

The  noise  of  infants,  which  is  such  an  annoyance  at 
present,  will  be  very  mtveh  diminished  in  the  nurseries 
of  a  Phalanx.  Those  of  the  third  class — the  Intract- 
able— will  be  less  turbulent,  less  noisy,  than  are  at 
present  the  other  two  classes, — the  Quiet  and  the 
Restless.  What  means  will  be  employed  to  pacify 
them?  Will  the  passions  of  these  little  creatures  be 
changed?  Most  certainly  not:  they  will  be  fully  de- 
veloped, but  diversions  and  amusements  will  be  pro- 
cured for  them  by  placing  them  in  the  company  of 
children  of  sympathetic  characters.  The  most  noisy 
will  cease  their  cries,  when  they  are  placed  with  a 


EDUCATION.  401 

dozen  other  little  creatures,  as  perverse  as  themselves. 
They  will  silence  each  other  by  their  screams,  some- 
thing like  those  bragadocios,  who  become  perfectly 
mild  and  abandon  their  overbearing  conduct,  when 
they  are  in  the  company  of  their  equals. 

What  other  diversions  will  be  given  to  these  bawl- 
ers  ?  That  remains  for  the  nurses  to  discover:  Stimu- 
lated by  rival  methods,  they  will  ascertain  in  less  than 
a  month  what  will  quiet  them,  and  put  an  end  to  their 
incessant  screams.  We  will  here  merely  lay  down  in 
principle,  the  necessity  of  uniting  in  one  room,  the  in- 
tractable children.  They  will  become  manageable  by 
being  classed  with  their  fellows,  and  will  silence  each 
other — not  by  threats  or  punishments — but  by  the 
effect  of  that  corporative  impression,  which  softens 
down  the  r.:ost  turbulent  being,  when  he  is  brought 
into  contact  with  persons  like  himself.  This  effect, 
neither  the  father  nor  the  mother  can  produce;  the 
child  harrasses  them,  and  harrasses  itself. 

And  were  it  taken  into  the  company  of  other 
screamers  of  the  neighborhood,  it  would  not  be  quieted, 
for  none  of  those  diversions,  which  it  would  find  in 
the  nursery  of  the  children  of  its  disposition,  could  be 
offered  it.  On  its  return  home  it  would  renew  its  cries, 
and  become  the  more  furious  as  it  had  enjoyed  a  few 
moments  of  diversion,  calculated  to  cause  it  regret. 
The  child  requires  a  treatment  which  is  uniformly 
adapted  to  its  character,  and  not  a  few  rare  and  oc- 
casional diversions,  which  only  serve  to  sour  its  dis- 
position, and  increase  the  monotony  of  its  lonely 
position  in  the  isolated  household,  where  it  can  in  no 

26 


402  EDUCATION. 

case  be  classed  with  children  of  its  character  and  dis- 
position. 

Nature  demands  the  education  of  children  in  masses, 
as  well  for  their  own  good  as  for  the  comfort  of 
parents.  In  spite  of  all  that  is  preached  of  the  sacred 
duties  of  Nature,  there  is  not  a  married  couple  who 
are  not  more  or  less  tired  of  the  cares,  which  infants 
require,  of  the  filthy  and  repugnant  services,  whicn 
their  weakness  demands.  To  array  fathers  and  mo- 
thers against  civilization,  it  would  only  be  necessary 
to  show  them,  if  a  Phalanx  existed,  the  three  Series  of 
nurseries,  where  the  sucklings,  the  weaned,  and  the 
next  class  in  age,  divided  into  Groups  of  ages  and 
characters,  were  raised  with  every  means  of  develop- 
ing their  faculties  and  intelligence. 

In  concluding  these  preliminary  remarks,  let  tis 
lay  it  down  as  a  principle,  that  man  is  a  being 
made  for  HARMONY  AND  FOR  ALL  KINDS  OF  ASSOCIA- 
TION: God  has  given  to  every  age,  inclinations 
adapted  to  the  means  and  resources  of  Dissociation- 
These  resources  are  wanting  in  Civilization;  both 
the  child  and  the  grown  person  are  deprived  of 
them;  and  t/s  the  child,  deprived  of  speech,  cannot 
explain  its  wants,  it,  OF  ALL  AGES,  suffers  the  most  by  the 
absence  of  the  Serial  organization.  Infancy  being  less 
provided  with  reason  than  mature  age,  insists  more  strongly 
upon  the  satisfaction  of  its  instincts,  fur  the  gratification 
of  which  no  means  now  exist.  It  protests,  by  its  cries, 
against  its  subjection  to  a  system  contrary  to  nature —  cries, 
which  are  annoying  to  the  parent,  and  hurtful  to  the  child. 
The  education  of  Association  in  satisfying  fully  the  in- 


EDUCATION.  403 

font,  will  relieve  the  parent,  and  render  two  beings  con- 
tented, who  now  are  discontented.  Thus,  even  in  early 
infancy,  we  find  the  pernicious  action  of  civilization;  it 
engenders  double  evil  instead  of  the  double  good,  ichick  Na- 
ture designed  for  us. 


26 


404  EDUCATION    OF    THE 


CHAFFER  THIRTY-ONE. 


EDUCATION    OF    THE    FIRST    ORDER    OF 

We  now  arrive  at  the  period,  when  the  initiation  of 
the  child  into  industry,  or  the  awakening  in  it  of  a 
taste  for  industrial  occupations,  takes  place.  Unless 
the  development  of  industrial  instincts  be  early  com- 
menced, the  whole  system  of  Education  will  be  a 
failure.  The  first  tendency  of  man  being  to  riches,* 
we  may  say  that  the  Education  of  the'  child  is  falsely 
commenced,  if  in  the  outstart,  at  about  the  age  of  two 
years,  it  does  not  devote  itself  freely  and  sponta- 
neously to  productive  Industry,  which  is  the  source  of 
riches;  and  if,  like  the  civilized  child,  it  runs  into 
all  kinds  of  mischief,  and  breaks  and  destroys  what 
ever  comes  in  its  way,,  which  foolish  parents  think 
charming. 

As  soon  as  the  child  eaiv  walk  and  run  about,  it 
passes  from  the  class  of  the  Weaned  to  the  next  class- 

*  The  three  tendencies  of  attraction  are  : 

1st.  Riches.  2d.   Groups.    3d.  Series.     X      UNITY. 

Material  Refinement.       Affections.     Association.  Harmony 


FIRST    ORDER    OF    CHILDREN.  405 

in  age,  which  we  will  term  Little  Commencers.*  If 
it  has  been  brought  up  from  its  birth  in  the  nurseries 
of  a  Phalanx,  it  will  be  strong  enough  at  the  age  of 
twenty-one  months  to  join  the  children  of  this  class. 
There  is  no  distiction  made  at  this  age  between  the 
two  sexes,  as  it  is  important  to  mingle  and  confound 

*  CLASSIFICATION  OF  CHILDREN  IN  AGES  OR  ORDERS. 

f  Sucklings,  from    0     to    1     year. 

Germ,  < 

{  Weaned,  from     1     to    2    years. 

1st  Age      Transition,     fist.  Order  or  Little  Commencers. 

from    2    to    3    years. 
to  < 

|  2d.  Order  or  Initiated, 
2d.  Age       Industry,        j^  from    3    to    4^  years. 

3d.  Age,  3d.  Order,  from    4A   to    6}  years. 

4th.  Age,  4th.  Order,  from    6£   to    9    years. 

5th.  Age,  5th.  Order,  from    9    to  12    years. 

6th.  Age,  <>th.  Order,  from  12    to  15J  years. 

7th.  Age,  ?th.  Ord«r,  from  15j  to  20    years. 

The  Sueklingt  and  Weaned,  are  the  mere  germs  of  future  indi- 
viduals ;  they  arc  not  therefore  classed  as  an  Order. 

The  First  Age  or  Order,  is  composed  of  children  from  two  to 
three  years  of  age.  We  term  them  Little  Commencert,  because, 
childhood  at  their  age,  commence*  its  first  initiation  into  Industry. 

We  give  to  the  Second  Order,  the  title  of  Initiated,  because,  at 
the  age  of  four,  the  child  has  already  acquired  a  knowledge  of  some 
details  i»  diver*  branches  of  Industry,  and  is  initiated  into  its  occu- 
pation. 

These  two  first  Ages  form  the  Transition  to  Industry,  as  during 
them  children  are  acquiring  preparatory  notions  of,  and  forming 
their  bodies  to,  it*  exercise. 


406  EDUCATION    OF    THE 

them  in  order  to  facilitate  the  free  development  of  in- 
dustrial tastes  or  talents,  and  to  apply  both  sexes  to 
the  same  branches  of  industry.  A  distinction  between 
the  sexes  commences  with  the  class  next  in  age, — with 
children  from  three  to  four  and  a  half  years  old. 

We  have  before  remarked  that  Nature  gives  to  each 
child  a  large  number  of  industrial  instincts  or  talents, — 
about  thirty;  some  of  which  are  primary  or  directing 
instincts,  and  should  lead  to  those  which  are  secon- 
dary. 

The  first  object  is  to  discover  in  the  child,  its  primary 
instincts:  they  will  be  awakened  as  soon  as  it  is 
brought  in  contact  with  occupations  to  which  those 
instincts  direct  it.  As  soon  as  it  can  walk  and  leave 
the  nursery,  it  is  confided  to  the  care  of  a  class  of 
teachers,  who  have  the  instruction  of  this  age,  and 
whom  we  will  term  Mentors.  (Their  functions  will 
differ  from  those  of  civilized  tutors,  who  only  en- 
deavor to  smother  Nature,  and  substitute  their  doc- 
trines in  place  of  her  true  impulses. )  They  will  take 
the  child  through  all  the  workshops  of  the  Phalanx, 
and  to  all  industrial  assemblages  of  children;  and  as  it 
will  find  little  tools  and  little  workshops  placed  along- 
side the  large  ones,  where  children  from  the  age  of 
thirty  to  thirty-six  months,  are  taught  to  perform  some 
trifling  branch  of  work,  it  will  wish  to  mingle  with 
them  in  their  occupations,  and  handle  the  tools;  it  will 
be  easy  in  consequence,  to  discover  at  the  end  of  a 
couple  of  weeks,  which  are  the  workshops  that  attract 
it  the  most,  and  for  what  branches  of  industry  it  shows 
a  taste. 


FIRST    ORDER    OF    CHILDREN.  407 

As  the  branches  of  Industry  of  a  Phalanx  are  ex- 
tremely varied,  it  is  impossible  that  the  child  sur- 
rounded by  them,  should  not  find  the  means  of  satis- 
fying several  of  its  predominant  instincts;  they  will 
be  awakened  by  the  sight  of  little  tools,  handled  by 
children  a  few  months  older  than  themselves. 

In  the  opinion  of  civilized  parents  and  teachers,  chil- 
dren are  lazy  little  creatures;  nothing  is  more  false; 
children  from  two  to  three  years  of  age  are  very  ac- 
tive, but  we  must  know  the  means  which  Nature  em- 
ploys,— in  the  Passional  Series,  and  not  in  civiliza- 
tion— to  attract  them  to  industry. 

The  predominant  tastes  or  characteristics  in  all  chil- 
dren, are: 

1st  Propensity  to  pry  into  every  thing,  to  meddle 
with  and  handle  whatever  they  see,  and  to  vary  con- 
tinually their  occupations. 

2d.   Taste  for  noisy  occupations. 

3d.  Propensity  for  imitation. 

4th.  Love  of  little  tools  and  workshops. 

5th.  Progressive  influence  of  the  older  children 
upon  the  younger. 

There  are  many  others,  but  we  mention  first  these 
five,  which  are  well  known  at  present.  Let  us  ex- 
amine the  application  to  be  made  of  them  to  direct  the 
child  in  its  early  age  to  Industry. 

The  mentors  or  tutors  will  first  avail  themselves  of 
the  propensity  of  the  child  to  pry  into  every  thing,  a 
propensity  which  is  so  strong  at  the  age  of  two  years. 
It  wishes  to  enter  every  where,  handle  every  thing, 
and  meddle  with  whatever  it  sees.  This  instinct  in 


408  EDUCATION   OP    THE 

the  child  is  a  natural  incentive  to  industry.  To 
awaken  in  it,  a  taste  for  its  occupations,  it  will  be 
taken  to  the  little  workshops,  where  it  will  see  chil- 
dren three  years  old  capable  of  handling  little  hammers 
and  other  tools.  Its  propensity  for  imitation  will  be 
aroused,  which  it  will  wish  to  satisfy;  some  little  tools 
will  be  given  it,  but  it  will  desire  to  take  part  with 
the  children  a  little  older  than  itself,  who  know  how 
to  work,  and  who  in  consequence,  will  refuse  to  re- 
ceive it. 

The  child  will  persevere,  if  it  has  a  decided  inclina- 
tion or  instinct  for  the  branch  of  industry.  As  soon  as 
the  mentor  perceives  this,  he  will  teach  it  some  little 
detail  connected  with  the  work,  and  it  will  soon  suc- 
ceed in  making  itself  useful  in  some  trifles,  which  will 
serve  as  an  introduction.  We  will  take  as  an  example, 
a  simple  occupation,  like  the  podding  of  peas,  which 
the  smallest  children  can  perform.  This  work,  which 
now  occupies  grown  persons,  will  be  reserved  to  chil- 
dren two,  three  and  four  years  old.  The  room  used 
for  the  purpose  will  contain  an  inclined  table,  on  the 
lower  side  of  which  are  several  cavities;  two  children 
between  three  and  four  years  of  age  are  seated  at  the 
upper  side;  they  pod  the  peas,  which  roll  to  the  lower 
side,  where  three  Little  Commencers  of  the  ages  of 
twenty-five,  thirty  and  thirty-five  months  are  seated, 
who  have  merely  to  separate  the  smaller  from  the 
larger  peas. 

The  smallest  are  wanted  for  the  more  delicate  kinds 
of  cookery,  the  middle  sized  for  the  more  common 
kinds,  and  the  largest  for  soup.  The  child  of  thirty- 
five  months  first  selects  the  smallest  peas,  which  are 
the  most  difficult  to  cull;  it  passes  all  the  large  and 


FIRST    ORDER    OF    CHILDREN.  409 

middle  sized  to  the  next  cavity,  where  the  child  of 
thirty  months  is  seated,  who  shoves  in  turn  to  the 
third  cavity  what  appears  large,  returns  to  the  first 
what  appears  small,  and  gathers  in  a  basket  all  the 
middle  sized.  The  child  seated  at  the  third  cavity 
has  very  little  to  do;  it  pushes  back  a  few  middle  sized 
peas  to  the  second  child,  and  merely  collects  in  its 
basket  the  large  ones. 

It  is  at  the  third  cavity  that  the  new  comer  is  seated: 
it  will  take  great  pride  in  pushing  the  large  peas  into 
a  basket,  and  in  performing  this  trifling  operation,  it 
will  imagine  that  it  has  done  as  much  as  its  companions. 

The  work  will  interest  and  excite  an  emulation  in 
the  young  child,  and  in  a  few  days  it  will  be  able  to 
replace  the  child  twenty-five  months  old.  As  soon  as 
it  can  perform  this  little  work,  a  badge  of  distinction 
is  given  it  to  show  that  it  is  a  member  of  the  group. 
In  all  the  occupations  of  Association  care  will  be  taken 
to  reserve  for  extremely  young  children  some  trifling 
detail  like  the  above,  which  could  no  doubt  be  better 
done  without  them  and  with  less  loss  of  time,  but  these 
details,  which  are  easily  performed,  must  be  reserved 
for  children  to  induce  them  to  take  a  part  in  industry. 

In  all  branches  some  trifling  occupations  are  left  for 
childhood  as  a  means  of  initiation  into  industry.  For 
the  child  two  years  old  these  occupations  must  be  very 
easy  of  execution,  but  in  performing  them,  it  will 
believe  that  it  has  done  something  of  consequence,  and 
that  it  is  almost  the  equal  of  children  three  or  four 
months  older  than  itself,  who  are  already  members  of 
groups,  and  who  wear  their  little  ornaments  and  uni- 
forms, which  inspire  with  profound  respect  the  young 
beginner. 


410  EDUCATION    t)F    THE 

The  child  two  years  old  will  find  consequently  in 
the  little  workshops  of  a  Phalanx  enticing  occupations, 
which  is  not  the  case  in  civilization,  and  which  will 
develope  its  tastes  or  instincts  for  industry.  These 
instincts  in  civilization  either  lie  dormant  or  are  en- 
tirely smothered. 

MEANS    OP     DEVELOPING     INSTINCTS    FOR    INDUSTRIAL 
VOCATIONS    III    CHILDREN. 

1st.  Charm  of  little  workshops,  and  of  little  tools, 
adapted  in  size  to  the  different  ages. 

2d.  Application  of  all  playthings,  such  as  little 
wagons,  wooden  horses,  dolls,  etc.,  which  are  useless 
in  civilization,  to  purposes  of  industrial  instruction. 

3d.  Charm  of  ornaments  and  uniforms:  a  feather  at 
present  often  suffices  to  bewitch  the  country  lad,  and 
induce  him  to  enlist;  what  then  will  he  the  power  of 
handsome  ornaments  and  uniforms  with  the  child  in 
inducing  it  to  ta^c  a  part  in  gay  and  happy  groups 
with  its  equals  ? 

4th.  Privilege  of  appearing  on  parade,  and  of  using 
tools:  we  know  how  much  such  privileges  stimulate 
children. 

5th.  Gaiety  and  animation,  which  always  accompany 
assemblages  of  children,  when  they  are  engaged  in 
occupations,  which  are  pleasing  and  attractive. 

6th.  Pride  of  having  performed  some  trifle  which 
the  child  believes  of  high  importance;  this  illusion  is 
cherished. 

7th.  Propensity  to  imitation,  which  is  so  predomi- 
nent  in  children,  and  which  acquires  a  ten  fold  in- 
tensity, when  their  emulation  is  excited  by  the  ex- 


FIRST    ORDER    OF    CHILDREN.  411 

ploits  of  groups  of  children,  a  little  older  than  them- 
selves. 

8th.  Full  liberty  in  the  choice  of  occupations,  and 
in  the  duration  of  the  same. 

9th.  Perfect  independence,  or  exemption  from 
obedience  to  superiors,  whom  it  has  not  chosen  from 
inclination. 

10th.  Parcelled  exercise,  or  the  advantage  of  choos- 
ing in  each  branch  of  industry,  the  detail  which 
pleases. 

1 1th.  Charm  of  short  occupations,  varied  frequently 
and  animated  by  rivalry.  They  are  desired,  because 
they  do  not  occur  frequently.  This  is  the  case  with 
those  occupations  even  which  take  place  daily,  for 
they  only  require  by  turns  a  third  or  a  fourth  of  the 
members  of  the  group. 

12th.  Absence  of  paternal  flattery,  which  is  coun- 
teracted in  Association,  where  the  child  is  judged  and 
criticised  by  its  equals. 

13th.  Influence  of  a  regular  gradation  in  uniforms 
tools,  etc.,  adapted  to  merit  and  ages,  which  is  the  only 
system  that  charms  the  child  and  can  call  forth  dex- 
terity in  industry  and  application  in  study. 

14th.  Attractive  effect  of  large  assemblages,  and 
charm  of  belonging  to  groups,  in  which  an  enthusiasm 
is  awakened  by  uniforms,  music  and  corporative  cele- 
brations. 

15th.  Emulation  and  rivalry  between  children  of 
the  same  age,  between  groups  of  the  same  serie,  and 
between  divisions  of  the  same  group. 

16th.  Periodical  chance  of  promotion  to  classes 
higher  in  age. 

17th.   Admiration  for  prodigies  performed  by  group* 


412  EDUCATION   OP    THE 

of  older  children, — the  only  beings  whom  the  younger 
ones  choose  as  models. 

18th.  Rivalries  between  children  of  different  Pha- 
lanxes; meetings  of  groups,  and  emulative  contests 
between  them. 

There  are  other  incentives  not  here  mentioned,  and 
which  commence  acting  only  after  the  age  of  four, 
such  are: 

Contrast  and  emulation  of  sexes  and  instincts. 

Love  of  gain  or  spirit  of  acquisition. 

The  combination  of  these  incentives  will  developein 
less  than  a  month  in  the  child  three  or  four  of  its  pri- 
mary tastes  or  inclinations,  which  with  time  will  call 
forth  others:  inclinations  for  more  difficult  branches 
will  be  awakened  later. 

The  mentor  in  taking  the  child  through  the  work- 
shops and  manufactories,  will  discern  the  most  proper 
occasions  for  presenting  to  it  any  particular  branch  of 
work;  he  makes  a  memorandum  of  what  has  appeared 
to  please  it,  and  two  or  three  trials  are  made  to  ascer- 
tain whether  an  inclination  manifests  itself.  A  delay 
of  a  few  months  may  be  judged  necessary,  and  there 
is  no  urging  in  case  a  taste  is  not  evinced.  It  is  well 
known  that  twenty  or  thirty  industrial  inclinations 
will  be  developed  in  the  course  of  the  year,  and  it  is 
of  but  little  consequence  which  they  are. 

A  mentor  will  commonly  take  with  him  three  chil- 
dren at  a  time;  with  one  child  he  would  have  but  few 
chances  of  success,  but  of  the  three  one  will  be  more 
skilful,  another  more  ardent,  and  the  two  will  in- 
fluence the  third.  The  mentor  will  not  take  them  all 
of  the  same  age;  besides  he  will  change  children  in  the 
different  workshops;  leaving  one  with  a  group  occu- 


FIRST    ORDER   OF   CHILDREN.  41 S 

pied  in  shelling  peas,  taking  with  him  the  others  who 
have  evinced  no  inclination,,  and  a  third,  who  has 
finished  its  work. 

The  function  of  mentor  is  adapted  to  both  sexes, 
and  requires  peculiar  talents,  which  may  be  found  in 
both.  The  function  of  nurse  is  confined  to  women. 
The  best  incentive  for  the  child  commencing  its 
industrial  career,  is  impartial  criticism,  which  it  never 
receives  from  the  father  or  the  motherr  who  praise  at 
this  early  ager  even  its-  faults.  This  indiscreet  flattery 
will  be  counteracted  in  Association;  children  among; 
themselves  show  no  quarters,  but  ridicule  without 
mercy  an  awkward  associate  and  dismiss  it  with  dis- 
dain. Turned  away  by  the  older  children,  it  will  go 
crying  to  its  mentor,  who  will  give  it  lessons  and 
present  it  again,,  when  it  has  acquired  sufficient  skill. 
As  some  easy  and  trifling  work  is  always  reserved  for 
this  age,  the  child  soon  obtains  admission  to  a  dozen 
groups,  in  which  its  education  progresses  rapidly  and 
by  pure  attraction.  Nothing  is  learned  well  and 
rapidly,  which  is  not  learned  by  attraction. 

Of  all  the  means  of  awakening  a  taste  in  the  child 
for  industry,  the  one  least  known  and  most  perverted 
in  civilization,  is  that  which  we  will  term  the  spirit 
of  ascending  imitation,  or  the  tendency  of  the  child 
to  imitate  those  a  little  older  than  itself,  to  pay  de- 
ference to  their  views  and  decisions,  and  to  consider 
rt  an  honor  to  be  associated  with  them  in  their  occupa- 
tions and  amusements. 

This  spirit  of  amending  imitation  is  pernicious  in 
effect  at  present,  because  the  amusements  of  a  band  of 
children,  left  free,  are  dangerous  or  useless;  they  play 
games  in  which  they  run  the  risk  of  maiming  them- 


114  EDUCATION    OP    THE 

selves,  acquire  bad  habits  and  learn  vulgarity  of  lan- 
guage and  manners.  In  Association,  with  the  stimu- 
lants we  have  just,  enumerated,  these  same  children 
would  be  led  to  devote  themselves  actively  to  produc- 
tive occupations. 

The  ignorance  of  the  true  application  of  ascending 
imitation  shows  the  great  defect  of  all  our  civilized 
methods  of  education. 

All  authors  of  systems  of  education  have  fallen  into 
the  great  error  of  considering  the  father  or  a  tutor  under 
his  direction,  as  the  natural  instructor  of  the  child. 
Nature  judges  differently,  and  for  a  three- fold  reason. 

1st.  The  father  seeks  to  communicate  his  tastes 
to  the  child,  and  to  smother  the  development  of  its 
natural  instincts  and  capacities,  which  differ  almost 
always  from  his  own.  The  whole  mechanism  of  the 
passional  Series  would  be  destroyed,  if  the  son  inherited 
the  tastes  of  the  father. 

2d.  The  father  is  disposed  to  praise  and  flatter  to 
excess  in  the  child  the  little  merit  which  it  may  pos- 
sess, while  on  the  contrary  it  requires  to  be  criticised 
with  severity  by  groups  of  associates. 

3d.  The  father  excuses  in  it  want  of  skill  and  dex- 
terity, and  prevents  as  ;i  consequence  the  progress 
which  would  result  from  a  judicious  criticism,  which 
is  submitted  to  when  it  comes  from  skilful  associates. 

Nature,  to  counteract  all  these  defects  of  paternal 
education,  gives  to  the  child  a  repugnance  for  the  les- 
sons of  the  father  and  the  tutor;  the  child  wishes  to 
command  and  not  to  obey  the  father.  The  loaders 
whom  it  chosses  from  passion,  are  always  children 
somewhat  older  than  itself;  for  example, 


FIRST    ORDER    OP    CHILDREN. 


415 


At  IS  months,  it  admires  the  child  of  two  years,  and 
chooses  it  as  its  guide. 

At  2  years,  it  chooses  ihe  child  of  thirty  months. 

At  3  years,  the  child  of  four. 

At  8  years,  the  child  often. 

At  12  years,  the  child  of  fifteen. 

This  ascending  deference  will  be  greatly  increased 
in  strength,  if  the  child  sees  children  a  little  older  than 
itself  membeis  of  groups,  and  enjoying  a  merited  re- 
spect for  their  progress  in  industry  and  studies. 

The  natural  instructors  of  children  of  each  age  are, 
consequently,  those  a  little  superior  in  age.  But  as 
children  in  civilization  are  all  more  or  less  inclined  to 
mischief  and  entice  each  other  into  it,  it  is  impossible 
to  establish  among  them  a  gradation  or  ascending  order 
of  useful  impulses  and  make  each  age  the  guide  of  the 
next  younger;  this  can  only  take  place  in  the  Passional 
series,  out  of  which  any  approximation  to  a  system  of 
natural  education  is  impossible. 

This  natural  system  of  education  will  be  one  of  the 
wonders,  which  will  be  admired  in  the  first  Phalanx. 
The  seven  orders  or  ages  of  children  will  direct  and 
educate  each  other,  as  nature  wishes,  by  the  influence 
of  ascending  imitation,  which  can  only  lead  to  the 
good  of  the  whole;  for  if  the  highest  order,  or  seventh 
age,  (from  fifteen  and  and  a  half  to  twenty,)  take  ;i 
proper  direction  in  industry,  in  studies  and  morals,  it 
will  influence  and  direct  rightly  the  sixth  age,  (from 
twelve  to  fifteen  and  a  half,)  to  which  it  will  serve  as 
a  model.  The  same  influence  will  be  exercised  by  the 
sixth  on  the  fifth,  by  the  fifth  on  the  fourth,  and  thus 
in  a  descending  order  on  the  third,  second  and  first 


416  EDUCATION    OF    THE 


ages.  The  seven  corporations,  directed  by  the  spirit 
of  ascending  imitation,  will,  although  left  to  their 
full  liberty,  vie  with  each  other  in  excellence  and 
activity  in  Industry  and  social  harmonies.  On  be- 
holding this  prodigy,  it  will  no  longer  be  doubted  that 
Attraction,  developed  in  Passional  Series,  is  the 
agent  of  the  Divinity,  is  the  hand  of  the  Creator,  direct- 
ing man  to  his  greatest  good. 

We  will  conclude  our  remarks  upon  the  functions 
of  the  Mentors  with  one  or  two  more  observations. 
So  far  from  flattering  and  excusing  the  child,  it  will 
be  their  task  to  see  that  it  meets  with  refusals  and 
rebuffs  in  different  groups,  in  order  to  stimulate  it  to 
vindicate  itself  by  proofs  of  skill.  A  father  could  not 
fulfil  this  duty;  he  would  blame  the  group  which  had 
rejected  his  child.  The  function  of  mentor,  as  well 
as  of  nurse,  will  require  persons  of  a  firm  and  judicious 
character,  who,  from  a  corporative  spirit,  will  be  in- 
terested in  the  progress  of  the  children  in  general  and 
not  in  the  caprices  of  a  few  favorites. 

The  function  of  Mentor  is  of  high  importance,  be- 
cause it  acts  upon  a  decisive  epoch  in  the  education  of 
the  younger  age;  if  the  child  succeed  well  in  the  com- 
mencement of  its  industrial  education;  it  will  be  a 
guarantee  of  success  for  the  entire  career  of  its  child- 
hood. Once  initiated  into  ten  branches  of  industry, 
it  soon  will  be  into  a  hundred,  and  at  the  age  of  fifteen, 
it  will  be  acquainted  with  the  various  branches  of 
agriculture,  manufactures,  arts  and  sciences,  which- its 
own,  and  the  neighboring  Phalanxes  pursue.  Let  us 
examine  how  this  result  will  be  effected. 


FIRST   ORDER    OF    CHILDREN.  417 

A  child,  were  it  the  son  of  a  man  of  the  highest 
rank  and  fortune,  may  at  the  age  of  three  years,  ex- 
hibit a  taste  for  shoemaking,  and  wish  to  visit  the 
workshops  of  the  shoe-makers,  who  in  Association 
are  as  polite  a  class  as  any  other.  If  it  be  prevented 
from  visiting  their  workshops;  if  its  inclination  for 
shoemaking  be  thwarted,  under  the  pretext  that  it  is 
not  a  dignified  occupation,  or  is  wanting  in  intellectual 
elevation,  it  will  take  a  dislike  for  other  branches  of 
industry,  and  will  feel  no  interest  in  those  studies  and 
occupations,  which  its  parents  wish  it  to  pursue. 
But  if  it  be  left  to  commence  as  attraction  directs, — 
that  is  by  shoemaking, — it  will  easily  be  induced  to 
acquire  a  knowledge  of  tanning,  then  of  chemistry,  so 
far  as  relates  to  the  various  preparations  of  leather, 
and  then  of  agriculture,  so  far  as  pasturage  and  breed- 
ing of  cattle  has  an  influence  upon  the  quality  of  skins. 

Thus  the  child  by  degrees  will  be  initiated  into  all 
branches  of  industry,  a  result  of  its  primitive  inclina- 
tion for  shoemaking.  It  is  of  but  little  consequence 
how  it  commences,  provided  it  acquires  in  the  course  of 
its  youth  a  general  knowledge  of  the  various  branches, 
of  industry  of  its  Phalanx,  and  that  it  conceives 
a  lively  affection  for  all  the  Series  from  which  it  has 
received  instruction. 

This  general  knowledge  cannot  be  acquired  in  civi- 
lization, where  science  and  industry  are  not  connected. 
The  scientific  declare  that  the  sciences  form  a  chain, 
each  link  of  which  connects  with,  and  leads  to,  all  the 
others  ;  but  they  forget  that  our  isolated  and  conflict- 
ing relations  sow  discord  among  the  industrial  classes, 

27 


418  EDUCATION   &C. 

and  render  each  indifferent  to  the  labors  of  the  others; 
whereas  in  a  Phalanx,  every  person  is  interested  in 
all  the  Series  from  connections  and  rivalries  with 
some  of  their  members  upon  questions  of  agriculture, 
science,  music  and  art.  The  connection  existing 
between  the  sciences  is  not  alone  sufficient  to  lead  to 
their  general  study;  we  must  add  to  that  connection 
ties,  which  arise  from  the  association  of  functions  and 
individuals  and  from  emulative  rivalries, — an  impossi- 
bility in  civilization. 

Various  details  could  be  added  upon  the  education 
of  this  age,  but  we  will  include  them  in  the  education 
of  the  next  higher  order  of  children. 


EDUCATION    OF    THE    INITIATED    &C.  419 


CHAPTER  THIRTY-TWO. 

EDUCATION    OP    THE    INITIATED   OR   SECOND    ORDER 
OF    CHILDREN. 

We  now  come  to  an  interesting  class  of  children, 
to  a  class,  which  at  the  age  of  four  years,  knoivs  how 
to  make  money.  This  merit  must  be  particularly 
set  forth,  as  in  civilization,  it  is  the  most  appreciated 
in  the  child  as  well  as  in  the  father. 

In  the  first  class  of  children,  (from  the  age,  of  two 
to  three,)  the  sexes  are  not  distinguished  by  difference 
of  dress.  To  do  so  might  prevent  the  development 
of  capacities,  and  derange  the  proper  proportion 
which  should  be  found  of  both  sexes  in  every  func- 
tion. Although  each  branch  of  industry  is  particu- 
larly adapted  to  one  or  the  other  sex,  for  example — 
sewing  to  women,  and  ploughing  to  men,  still  nature 
wishes  their  union  in  most  of  occupations.  In  some, 
there  should  be  a  half  of  each  sex,  in  others  a  quarter, 
but  in  all,  with  rare  exceptions,  at  least  an  eighth. 
The  dairy,  for  exam  pie,  is  a  branch  particularly  adapted 
to  women;  still  some  men  should  take  part  with  them, 
and  attend  to  the  more  laborious  portions  of  the  work. 

27* 


420  EDUCATION    OF    THE    INITIATED 

The  care  of  wine-cellars,  on  the  other  hand,  is  the  busi- 
ness of  men;  the  Serie  devoted  to  this  branch  should, 
however,  contain  an  eighth  of  women,  who  will  take 
care  of  the  sweet,  light,  sparkling  and  other  qualities 
of  wines,  which  are  agreeable  to  their  sex. 

By  means  of  these  unions  in  each  branch  of  industry, 
a  useful  rivalry  will  be  established  between  the  sexes. 
This  competition  would  not  exist,  if  an  entire  sex 
were  excluded  from  any  function,  like  the  profession 
of  medicine  or  the  art  of  teaching;  and  they  would  be 
excluded  from  it,  if  in  early  childhood  the  develop- 
ment of  instincts  or  capacities  for  such  occupations 
were  prevented.  The  difference  of  dress  would  be 
an  obstacle  to  this  development,  as  the  girls  would 
separate  from  the  boys;  it  will  be  necessary,  there- 
fore, to  make  no  distinction  between  them  in  the  first 
class  of  children,  so  that  inclinations  for  functions 
adapted  to  the  male  and  female  sexes  may  be  de- 
veloped reciprocally  in  little  girls  and  boys  without 
obstacle.  This  can  only  be  accomplished  by  taking 
young  children  from  two  to  three  years  old  through 
all  the  workshops,  and  interesting  them  in  occupations 
without  distinction  of  sexes. 

These  inclinations  are  developed  at  the  age  of  three 
years,  at  which  age  the  child  is  admitted  to  the  cor- 
poration of  the  Initiated.  Distinctions  will  then 
commence  between  the  sexes  which  before  were 
wisely  mingled  or  confounded. 

The  Mentors  do  not  take  charge  indiscriminately  of 
children  of  all  characters;  they  choose  those  whose 
passional  predispositions  or  industrial  inclinations 


OR  SECOND  ORDER  OP  CHILDREN.       421 

please  them.  Each  tutor  in  choosing  children  to 
govern,  consults  his  sympathies;  no  one  would  take 
charge,  as  in  civilization,  of  a  confused  mass  of  chil- 
dren. The  child  on  the  other  hand  consults  also  its 
affinities  in  the  choice  of  teachers;  the  system  of  re- 
ciprocal attraction  must  exist  in  education  as  in  every 
thing  else,  and  attraction  would  be  banished  from 
education,  were  the  incoherence  and  confusion  of  our 
civilized  methods  of  instruction  adopted. 

In  the  development  of  capacities,  the  same  system 
is  applied  to  the  second  order  of  children, — to  the 
Initiated  as  to  the  first  order, — the  Commencers,  for 
there  -are  a  great  many  branches  of  industry  entirely 
out  of  the  reach  of  a  child  of  three  years,  and  for 
which  its  tastes  cannot  be  tested.  There  are  branches 
of  work,  which  it  cannot  undertake  before  the  age  of 
ten,  others  before  the  age  of  fifteen.  After  the  age  of 
five  or  six,  emulation  alone  will  be  sufficient  to  guide 
the  child:  but  up  to  that  time  means  of  artificial  de- 
velopment must  be  employed.  One  means  will  be 
the  employment  of  all  those  playthings  which  are  use- 
less in  civilization,  such  as  little  wagons,  wooden 
horses,  etc. — playthings  which  Association  will  make 
use  of  to  initiate  children  of  three  and  four  years  into 
industry.  An  example  will  explain  this: 

George  and  Raymond,  who  are  nearly  three  years 
old,  are  impatient  to  be  admitted  to  the  class  next 
above  them  in  age, — to  the  class  of  the  Initiated,  who 
wear  handsome  dresses,  handsome  caps  and  plumes, 
and  who  have  a  place  at  parades,  but  without  taking 
an  active  part  To  be  admitted  to  this  corporation, 


422  E1JUCATION    OP    THE    INITIATED 

they  must  give  proofs  of  skill  and  dexterity  in  various 
branches  of  industry,  and  to  attain  this  end,  they 
apply  themselves  diligently.  These  two  children  are 
too  young  to  take  a  part  in  gardening.  However,  on 
a  fine  morning,  a  mentor  takes  them  to  the  gardens, 
where  a  numerous  assemblage  of  children,  four,  five, 
and  six  years  old,  have  just  made  a  collection  of 
vegetables,  which  they  are  loading  upon  a  dozen  little 
wagons  drawn  by  dogs.  In  this  assemblage  are  two 
friends  of  George  and  Raymond,  who  have  been  re- 
cently admitted  among  this  class  of  children. 

George  and  Raymond  desire  to  take  part  with  these 
groups;  this  is  refused  them,  and  they  are  told  that 
they  cannot  make  themselves  useful;  as  a  proof,  to 
one  a  dog  is  given  to  harness,  and  to  the  other  some 
radishes  to  do  up  in  a  bunch;  they  cannot  succeed  in 
performing  the  task  allotted  to  them,  and  the  older 
children  reject  them  without  pity,  for  children  are 
very  strict  with  each  other  as  to  the  manner  of  per- 
forming work.  They  pursue  a  different  system  from 
fathers  who  excuse  the  awkward  child  under  pretext 
that  it  is  too  young. 

George  and  Raymond  seek,  in  their  disappointment, 
their  Mentor,  who  promises  them  that  in  three  days 
they  shall  be  admitted,  if  they  will  take  lessons  in  har- 
nessing. They  afterwards  see  the  train  of  elegant  lit- 
tle wagons  depart:  the  groups  of  children  put  on  their 
belts  and  plumes,  and  forming  in  a  column  around 
their  standard,  follow  to  the  sound  of  music. 

George  and  Raymond,  rejected  by  this  brilliant  as- 
semblage, return,  with  tears  in  their  eyes,  to  the 


OR  SECOND  ORDER  OF  CHILDREN.      423 


Phalanx,  in  company  with  their  Mentor.  Arrived 
there,  he  takes  them  to  the  rooms  where  the  play- 
things are  kept;  he  gives  them  a  wooden  dog  and 
teaches  them  to  harness  it  to  a  little  wagon:  he  after- 
wards brings  them  a  basket  of  radishes  and  onions, 
made  of  pasteboard,  and  teaches  them  how  to  put  them 
up  in  bunches;  he  then  proposes  them  to  take  another 
lesson  the  following  day.  He  stimulates  them  to 
avenge  the  affront  they  have  received,  and  holds  out 
to  them  the  hope  of  being  soon  admitted  to  the  groups 
which  rejected  them.  The  Mentor  afterwards  takes 
them  to  some  other  assemblage  of  children,  and  in- 
trusts them  to  the  care  of  a  second  Mentor,  after  hav- 
ing finished  his  two  hours'  instruction. 

The  next  day  the  two  boys  will  wish  to  see  the 
Mentor  again,  and  repeat  with  him  the  lesson  of  the 
previous  day.  After  three  or  four  lessons  of  the  kind, 
he  will  take  them  to  the  groups  employed  in  collect- 
ing the  smaller  kinds  of  vegetables,  in  which  they 
will  know  how  to  make  themselves  useful  and  by 
which  they  will  be  received  as  candidates  for  admis- 
sion. On  return  at  eight  o'clock,  the  signal  honor  of 
being  invited  to  breakfast  with  the  Group,  will  be  con- 
ferred upon  them. 

Thus,  the  company  of  older  children  will  direct 
rightly  two  younger  ones,  who  in  civilization  would 
be  led  by  them  to  commit  all  kinds  of  mischief. 

We  here  see  an  example  of  the  useful  application  of 
playthings  in  Association.  Give  a  child  in  civiliza- 
tion a  little  wagon  or  drum,  and  it  will  be  broken  to 

pieces  the  same  day,  or  if  not,  it  will  in  no  case  be  of 
"' 


424  EDUCATION    OF    THE     INITIATED 

_ 

any  utility.  The  Phalanx  will  always  be  supplied 
with  these  playthings,  but  they  will  be  used  only  for 
purposes  of  instruction,  and  as  a  means  of  initiating  the 
child  into  industry.  If  it  be  permitted  to  have  a  drum, 
it  will  be  to  enable  it  to  obtain  admission  to  a  band  of 
young  musicians.  Playthings  for  girls,  such  as  dolls, 
etc.,  will  be  in  other  ways  of  as  miTch  use  as  little 
wagons  and  drums. 

Critics  will  probably  remark,  that  the  work  done 
by  the  dozen  little  cars,  could  be  more  economically 
performed  with  one  large  wagon.  It  doubtlessly  could, 
but  for  a  trifling  economy  of  the  kind,  the  advantage 
of  an  early  familiarity  with  agricultural  occupations, 
such  as  harnessing,  loading  and  driving  little  wagons, 
would  be  lost;  besides,  the  more  important  advantage 
of  exciting  an  interest  in  the  child  for  the  various 
branches  of  cultivation  in  which  it  takes  a  part  by  the 
performance  of  these  little  details;  this  interest  will  be 
extended  by  degrees  to  agriculture  in  general.  It 
would  be  a  misplaced  economy  to  neglect  such  means 
of  developing  capacities,  and  exciting  an  attraction  for 
Industry. 

Another  source  of  emulation  which  will  be  very 
important  in  Association,  but  which  cannot  be  made 
use  of  in  civilization,  is  the  precocity  of  certain  chil- 
dren. Among  all  ages  there  are  always  some,  who 
are  very  forward  both  in  mind  and  body.  These  for- 
ward children  advance  in  grade  before  the  usual  time; 
this  is  a  cause  of  jealousy  and  emulation  for  their 
equals,  whose  company  they  have  quit.  Civilization 
cannot  make  use,  like  the  Combined  order,  of  this  pre- 


OR  SECOND  ORDER  OF  CHILDREN.      425 

cocity  as  a  means  of  emulation.  The  premature  pro- 
motion of  a  child  will  produce  a  strong  impression 
upon  the  most  skilful  and  forward  of  the  class,  which 
it  has  left;  they  will  redouble  their  efforts  to  equal  it, 
and  to  prepare  themselves  for  an  examination.  This 
rivalry  will  extend  more  or  less  to  backward  children, 
and  education  will  progress  rapidly  by  means  of  these 
little  stimulants,  of  which  in  civilization  no  application 
can  be  made,  because  neither  industry  nor  studies  are 
attractive  out  of  the  passional  Series. 

Association  can  alone  offer  to  children,  in  all 
branches  of  industry,  an  assortment  of  implements  and 
instruments,  such  as  little  wagons,  little  spades  and 
saws,  graduated  in  size  to  suit  all  ages.  This  adapta- 
tion of  the  size  of  tools  to  the  strength  of  the  child, 
charms  the  younger  age,  and  it  will  be  particularly  by 
these  means  that  the  propensity  to  imitation,  which 
is  so  strong  in  children,  can  be  made  use  of  to  the 
greatest  advantage.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  remark, 
that  edged  tools  of  no  kind  are  entrusted  to  the  two 
first  classes  or  orders  of  childhood. 

The  liberty  extended  to  children  in  Association 
does  not  include  dangerous  licences;  it  would  be  ridicu- 
lous to  permit  a  child  four  or  five  years  old  to  handle 
a  loaded  pistol.  The  permission  of  using  fire-arms 
and  edged  tools,  will  only  be  conceded  by  degrees,  as 
children  advance  in.age;  it  will  be  one  of  the  means  of 
emulation,  which  will  be  put  in  play  to  stimulate  the 
child  to  industry  and  studies,  without  resort  to  con- 
straint. 


426  EDUCATION    OP   THE    INITIATED 

There  will  be  a  variety  of  grades  or  ranks  in  In- 
dustry, such  as  candidates  for  admission,  novices, 
practicians,  experts,  besides  officers.  Children  in  As- 
sociation, will  have  the  weakness  which  fathers  have 
in  civilization,  that  is,  a  taste  for  orders,  decorations, 
pompous  titles,  etc. ;  a  child  three  years  old,  which 
has  received  a  primary  initiation  into  Industry,  may 
possess  various  titles  or  distinctions,  such  as  expert  in 
one  Group,  practician  in  another,  with  ornaments  in- 
dicative of  all  these  functions. 

The  desire  of  obtaining  these  distinctions,  as  well 
as  of  being  admitted  to  the  lower,  middle  and  higher 
divisions  of  each  class  or  age,  will  be  a  powerful  stim- 
ulant to  children.  The  young  age  being  but  little  taken 
up  by  pecuniary  interests,  and  not  at  all  by  love,  is 
alone  occupied  with  its  rivalries  and  little  objects  of 
ambition;  every  child  is  impatient  to  rise  from  grade 
to  grade,  and  from  age  to  age,  and  would  anticipate 
the  period  of  promotion,  if  it  were  not  restrained  by 
strict  examinations.  Each  order  of  children  leaves 
the  candidate  the  choice  of  the  branches  of  industry  in 
which  it  wishes  to  be  examined,  for  it  is  of  but  little 
consequence  what  groups  it  joins.  The  child  has  only 
to  give  proofs  of  capacity  in  a  certain  number  of 
groups,  which,  in  receiving  it  as  a  member,  certify  as 
to  its  skill  and  acquirements.  The  testimonials  of  a 
Group  are  based  upon  practical  examinations,  and  no 
favor  can  obtain  them,  as  the  child  must  execute,  with 
skill,  the  branches  of  work  in  which  it  is  examined. 
The  groups  of  children,  who  are  animated  by  a  strong 


OR  SECOND  ORDER  OF  CHILDREN.       427 

corporative  pride,  would  not  admit  a  candidate,  who 
might  expose  them  to  criticism  in  their  rivalries  with 
neighboring  Phalanxes. 

Up  to  the  age  of  nine  years,  examinations  will  be 
directed  more  to  the  material  than  to  the  intellec- 
tual^ and  after  nine  years,  more  to  the  intellectual 
than  to  the  material,  which  at  that  age  is  nearly  de- 
veloped. In  early  age,  the  first  object  is  to  secure  the 
complete  action  of  the  corporal  functions  and  the 
simultaneous  development  of  all  the  organs. 

When  children  of  the  class  of  the  Initiated  (from 
three  to  four  and  a  half)  apply  for  admission  to  the 
next  higher  age,  (from  four  and  a  half  to  six,)  they 
will  first  have  to  go  through  an  examination  as  to  the 
performance  of  a  certain  number  of  industrial  func- 
tions, like  the  following: 

Lighting  and  covering  of  fire  with  intelligence  and 
dexterity;  harnessing  of  dogs  and  driving  of  little 
wagons;  performance  of  a  part  in  the  little  bands  of 
music,  etc. 

They  must  also  have  testimonials  of  being, 

Experts  in  five  Groups, 
Practicians  in  seven  Groups, 
Candidates  for  admission  to  nine  Groups. 

And  give  proof  of  corporal  dexterity  by  going  through 
exercises  of  different  parts  of  the  body,  for  example: 

1.  One  of  the  left  hand  and  arm. 

2.  One  of  the  right  hand  and  arm. 

3.  One  of  the  left  foot  and  leg. 

4.  One  of  the  right  foot  and  leg. 


428  EDUCATION   OP    THE    INITIATED 

•    V- 

5.  One  of  the  two  hands  and  arms. 

6.  One  of  the  two  feet  and  legs. 

7.  One  of  the  four  members. 

They  will,  in  addition,  be  examined  upon  a  scien- 
tific problem,  on  the  first  of  the  three  primary  at- 
tributes of  the  Divinity, — Economy  of  Means,*  which 
is  the  most  intelligible  to  children  of  this  age. 

The  judges  are  chosen  always  among  the  class  to 
which  the  child  wishes  to  obtain  admission;  some  ex- 
perienced teachers  are  present  as  advisers.  The  dif- 
ferent classes  of  children,  even  the  youngest,  are  full 
of  corporative  pride  and  ambition,  and  would  not 
admit  an  awkward  candidate;  he  would  be  put  off 
from  month  to  month,  and  from  examination  to  ex- 
amination. Children  are  strict  judges  as  to  indus- 
trial skill. 

We  have  avoided  all  arbitrary  dictation  as  to  the 
sentiments  and  opinions  to  be  developed  in  early  age. 
A  moralist  would  wish  to  inculcate  in  the  child  a  love 
of  truth  and  a  contempt  for  riches;  a  political  econo- 

*PIVE    PRINCIPAL    ATTRIBUTES    OP    THE    DIVINITY. 

Radical  Attribute.  INTEGRAL  DIRECTION  OF  MOVEMENT  in 

its  five  branches. 

II.  Economy  of  Means. 
2.  Distributive  Justice. 
3.  Universality  of  Providence. 
Pivotal  Attributes.  UNITY  OF  SYSTEM. 

. 


OR    SECOND    ORDER    OF     CHILDREN.  429 

mist,  on  the  contrary,  a  love  of  commerce  and  gain, 
which  in  civilization  are  inseparable  from  fraud  and 
deceit.  We  shall  not  incur  the  risk  of  falling  into  all 
these  contradictions:  to  ascertain  the  true  system  of 
education,  we  shall  have  a  sure  guide  to  consult, 
which  is  Attraction. 

Where  does  Attraction  tend? 
<1.    To  Riches.  2.    To  Groups. 

3.    To  Series.  X    To  UNITY. 

t 
It  is  upon  these  general  impulses  that  a  true  system 

of  Education  should  be  based. 

Our  present  systems,  wish,  first,  to  instil  in  the 
child,  principles  of  virtue  and  morality;  whereas  fol- 
lowing the  primary  tendency  of  Attraction,  the 
child  should  first  be  directed  to  Compound  riches, 
that  is: 

To  Corporal  dexterity  and  health,  which  are  the 
source  of  Internal  riches. 

To  Productive  Industry,  which  is  the  source  of  Exter- 
nal riches,  (page  61.) 

What  connection  now  exists  between  health  and  our 
schools,  in  which  the  child,  imprisoned  and  suffering 
with  cold,  is  tormented  with  the  rudiments  of  Latin  or 
of  grammer?  His  mind  is  harrassed  and  his  body 
stunted.  Our  systems  of  education,  consequently,  are 
opposed  to  Nature — for  they  violate  the  primary  re- 
quirements of  Attraction,  which  tends  to  Compound 
Riches,  that  is  to  health,  or  Internal  riches,  and  to 
Industry,  the  source  of  External  riches. 

Such  are  the  two  ends  of  the  Education  of  Associa- 


430  EDUCATION    OP    THE     INITIATED 

tion.  It  will  first  initiate  the  child  into,  and  induce  it 
to  exercise,  various  branches  of  industry,  to  develope 
methodically  the  different  parts  of  its  body  to  render 
itself  skilful  in  all  branches  of  work,  and  enable  it 
to  obtain  by  this  variety  of  occupations,  the  possession 
of  the  two  sources  of  riches, — Integral  health  and 
Industrial  skill*,  the  child  four  and  a  half  years  old, 
must  have  fully  attained  these  two  ends. 

There  is  in  the  education  of  children  of  the  second 
order, — the  Initiated,  a  branch  of  which  we  have  not 
spoken:  it  is  the  art  of  determining  the  character  and 
temperament  of  the  child.  This  is  a  question  which 
we  will  not  enter  into  at  present;  we  merely  mention  it 
to  point  out  the  important  duties  of  the  Mentors — 
both  male  and  female — of  Association,  to  whom  these 
scientific  functions  belong. 

Is  it  surprising  that  nature,  which  assigns  to  the 
female  Mentors  so  important  a  duty,  should  inspire 
them  with  a  dislike  for  the  subordinate  parts  of  edu- 
cation,— for  the  care  of  children  in  the  cradle  ?  How 
could  they  devote  themselves  to  the  development  of 
character  and  industrial  inclinations,  to  the  classifica- 
tion of  temperaments,  and  to  those  delicate  tests  which 
these  different  duties  require,  if  they  were  obliged  to 
pass  their  entire  time  in  the  dirty  and  repugnant  occu- 
pations attendant  upon  the  care  of  young  children,  and 
in  the  menial  occupations  of  the  kitchen.  It  is  not 
surprising  that  women  destined  to  these  high  func- 
tions, should  disdain  the  trifling  occupations  of  the 
isolated  household,  and  that,  not  finding  in  the  civi- 


OR   SECOND    ORDER    OP    CHILDREN.  431 

lized  order  occupations  worthy  of  their  talents,  should 
seek  diversion  elsewhere,  in  balls,  theatres,  and  amuse- 
ments, in  order  to  fill  the  void,  which  the  emptiness 
and  meanness  of  civilization  leave  in  all  characters  of 
a  higher  stamp.  It  is  wrong  to  condemn  them;  it  is 
civilization  which  should  be  condemned,  which  in 
education,  as  in  everything  else,  opens  a  career  only 
to  women  inclined  to  littleness,  servility  and  hy- 
pocrisy. 

Diogenes  says,  that  love  is  the  occupation  of  the 
idle;  we  may  say  as  much  of  excesses  of  maternal  ten- 
derness. The  great  zeal  of  some  women  for  the  care 
of  a  child  is  often  the  mere  effect  of  want  of  occupa- 
tion. If  they  had  various  employments  to  engage  their 
attention,  in  which  their  interest  and  their  reputation 
were  at  stake,  they  would  be  very  glad  to  be  freed 
from  the  care  of  infants,  if  sure  that  all  proper  atten- 
tion was  paid  to  them. 

In  Association,  the  foolish  error  will  not  be  com- 
mitted of  excluding  women  from  the  profession  of 
medicine  and  the  higher  branches  of  teaching,  and  of 
reducing  them,  as  in  civilization,  to  the  insignificant 
occupations  of  cooking  and  sewing.  Nature  gives 
equally  to  the  two  sexes  a  capacity  for  Industry,  Arts 
and  Sciences,  except  that  to  each,  particular  branches 
are  adapted.  The  cultivation  of  the  Sciences,  for 
example,  is  particularly  adapted  to  men,  and  that  of 
the  Arts  to  women. 

Before  terminating  this  chapter,  we  will  examine 
another  means  of  exciting  emulation  in  children  for 
study.  There  is  hardly  any  fancy  more  general  in 


432  EDUCATION   OF    THE    INITIATED 

parents  than  that  of  having  forward  children;  hence 
our  modern  systems  of  education  endeavor  to  initiate 
the  child  into  scientific  subtilities,  to  teach  it  things  at 
the  age  of  six,  which  it  should  not  commence  before 
the  age  of  twelve. 

Association  will  follow  the  natural  order  of  things, 
which  is  to  perfect  the  body  before  it  educates  the 
mind.  We  see  that  nature  produces  the  blossom  be- 
fore the  fruit.  Association  will  follow  this  progres- 
sive method  in  education,  and  will  make  use  of  cha- 
racters as  they  are,  without  aiming  at  precocity. 

Compound  Precocity,  however,  will  be  one  of  its 
results,  but  to  obtain  it,  children  must  'be  induced 
from  their  early  age  to  take  a  part  in  Industry,  which 
in  the  present  system,  possesses  no  attraction. 

Studies  should  follow  second  in  order,  and  a  curi- 
osity awakened  by  industrial  occupations  should  lead 
to  them.  In  childhood,  study  must  always  be  con- 
nected with  Industry,  and  the  practical  occupations  of 
the  latter  must  awaken  in  it,  a  desire  for  the  acqui- 
sition of  knowledge. 

Edmund,  for  example,  who  is  six  years  old,  has  a 
passion  for  pheasants  and  violets,  and  takes  an  active 
part  with  the  Groups,  which  are  devoted  to  their  care 
and  cultivation. 

To  induce  Edmund  to  attend  the  schools,  resort 
will  not  be  had  to  paternal  authority  or  to  the  fear  of 
punishment;  the  hope  even  of  rewards  should  not  be 
held  out.  Edmund  and  children  of  his  age,  must  be 
induced  to  solicit  instruction.  How  can  this  result  be 
effected?  By  exciting  their  curiosity  and  producing 


OR  SECOND  ORDER  OF  CHILDREN.       433 

an  impression  upon  the  senses,  which  are  the  natural 
guides  of  the  child. 

The  Mentor,  who  presides  over  the  Group  of  children 
occupied  with  the  care  of  pheasants,  and  aids  them 
with  his  advice,  brings  with  him,  to  their  meeting,  a 
large  book  containing  engravings  of  all  the  various 
species  of  pheasants,  among  which  are  those  of  their 
Phalanx. 

Engravings  are  the  delight  of  children  five  and  six 
years  old — they  examine  them  with  eager  curiosity. 
Under  these  pretty  pictures,  is  a  short  description  of 
the  birds;  two  or  three  are  explained  to  the  children; 
they  wish  to  hear  the  others  read,  hut  the  Mentor  has 
not  time  to  comply  with  their  wish. 

This  is  a  stratagem  which  is  made  use  of  with  the 
younger  orders  of  children;  it  is  understood  that  all 
those  to  whom  they  apply,  shall  say  that  they  have 
not  time  to  explain  to  them  what  they  wish  to  know; 
the  instruction  which  they  solicit,  is  adroitly  refused 
them,  and  they  are  told  if  they  wish  to  know  so  many 
things,  they  have  only  to  learn  how  to  read;  some 
children  are  pointed  out  not  older  than  themselves, 
who,  possessing  this  knowledge,  are  admitted  to  the 
library  of  the  younger  age. 

The  Mentor  then  takes  away  the  book  containing 
the  pretty  pictures,  which  he  says  is  wanted  in  the 
school.  The  same  stratagem  is  used  with  the  chil- 
dren cultivating  violets;  their  curiosity  is  excited 
without  being  fully  satisfied. 

Edmund  is  piqued  at  the  disappointment,  which  he 
has  met  with  in  the  two  groups,  and  wishes  to  learn 

28 


434  EDUCATION    OF    THE    INITIATED 

how  to  read  in  order  to  gain  admittance  to  the  library, 
and  see  the  large  books,  which  contain  so  many  pret- 
ty pictures.  Edmund  communicates  his  project  to 
his  companion  Henry,  and  they  together  form  the 
noble  plot  of  learning  how  to  read.  This  desire  once 
awakened  and  manifested,  they  will  be  aided  in  satis- 
fying it;  but  in  Association  means  must  be  devised  to 
induce  them  to  solicit  instruction.  Their  progress 
will  be  a  great  deal  more  rapid,  when  study  is  the 
effect  of  attraction. 

We  have  here  put  in  play  one  of  the  predominant 
tastes  of  children, — the  love  of  colored  engravings, 
representing  objects  in  which  they  take  an  interest, 
because  they  are  connected  with  their  industrial  pur- 
suits. 

This  means  will  be  sufficient  to  awaken  in  the  child 
a  desire  of  learning  to  read.  If  we  analyze  it,  we 
shall  find  four  incentives;  two  material  and  two  men- 
tal, connected  with  it. 

1.  Material,  Impatience  of  knowing  the  explanation 
of  so  many  pretty  pictures. 

2.  Material,  The  relation  between  these  engravings 
and  the  animals  and  vegetables  with  which  the  child 
from  passion  is  occupied. 

3.  Mental,  The  desire  of  admission  to  the  class  of 
children  six  years  old,  who  would  not  receive  him, 
if  he  did  not  know  how  to  read. 

4.  Mental,  The  irony  of  the  more  forward  children 
of  his  own  age,  who,  knowing  how  to  read,  ridicule 
him  for  being  backward. 

Let  these  four-fold  means  of  Attraction  be  applied, 


OR  SECOND    ORDER   OF    CHILDREN.  435 

and  the  progress  of  the  child  will  be  as  rapid  as  it  will 
be  slow  and  doubtful,  if  recourse  be  had  to  civilized 
measures, — to  the  commands  of  the  father  or  a  tutor, 
or  to  menaces  and  punishments. 

The  same  system  should  be  applied  to  all  branches 
of  studies,  such  as  writing,  grammar,  etc.  A  double 
inducement,  like  concerted  refusals  and  innocent 
stratagems,  which  awaken  emulation,  will  always  be 
resorted  to.  It  is  only  for  those  branches  of  studies, 
which  are  connected  with  the  industrial  occupations  of 
the  child,  that  this  compound  interest  can  be  awaken- 
ed. The  child,  consequently,  should  commence  its 
education  by  the  practical  pursuits  of  Industry. 
How  defective  and  partial  are  civilized  methods, 
which  endeavor  to  make  of  the  child  a  geometrician 
or  a  chemist,  before  interesting  it  in  occupations, 
which  can  awaken  in  it  the  desire  of  acquiring  a 
knowledge  of  chemistry  and  mathematics,  and  of  com- 
bining those  theories  with  its  industrial  pursuits.  It 
is,  consequently,  in  agriculture,  manufactures  and  the 
care  of  animals,  that  the  education  of  the  child  should 
commence;  it  enters  the  schools  only  to  complete  the 
introductory  knowledge,  which  it  has  acquired  in  the 
industrial  groups,  to  which  it  belongs. 


436  BRANCHES   OF    AGRICULTURE 


CHAPTER  THIRTY-THIRD. 

.•Sdii)Ui^   "iO  /r"J:'i.r'llt;"!Vt     '<'*.<}.  \i    'Jo"l   Vil'i'j  ;'      <1         •'-/!   .'VjI'IOf'y  i 

BRANCHES    OF    AGRICULTURE    ADAPTED    TO    CHILD- 

HOOD. 

Nature  in  the  vegetable  kingdom,  must  have  calcu- 
lated upon  an  extensive  employment  of  children,  for 
she  has  created  in  great  abundance,  little  vegetables 
and  shrubbery,  which  should  occupy  the  child  and 
not  the  grown  person.  Two-thirds  of  our  gardens 
are  composed  of  little  plants,  which  are  adapted  to  the 
labor  of  children. 

Flowers,  with  the  exception  of  a  small  number, 
should  be  cultivated  by  them  and  by  women.  Nature, 
in  consequence,  has  given  them  a  strong  inclination 
for  shrubbery  and  flowers,  in  the  cultivation  of  which 
they  at  present  take  no  part. 

A  child  four  years  of  age,  wishing  to  be  admitted  to 
the  third  order  of  childhood,  must,  in  its  examination, 
choose  at  least  one  flower  or  vegetable,  like  the  violet 
or  parsley,  and  show  that  it  has  been  admitted  into 
the  group  which  cultivates  it.  This  admission  can 
only  be  obtained  by  useful  services  and  approved 
skill.  A  child  of  the  third  class,  to  be  admitted  to  the 


ADAPTED    TO    CHILDHOOD.  437 

fourth,  must  show  that  it  possesses  practical  know- 
ledge and  skill — which  is  decided  hy  the  vote  of  com- 
petent groups — in  the  cultivation  of  at  least  three 
vegetables.  In  these  occupations  the  child  acquires, 
by  degrees,  an  elementary  knowledge  of  the  various 
sciences,  for  agriculture  is  connected  with  them  all. 

The  child  in  Association  takes  an  active  part  in  the 
rivalries  of  Phalanx  with  Phalanx.  A  group  of  chil- 
dren cultivating  strawberries,  is  mortified  lo  find  that 
some  varieties  of  those  of  a  neighboring  Phalanx  bear 
away  the  palm  as  to  size  and  flavor.  The  vanquished 
wish  to  know  the  cause  of  their  failure,  which,  per- 
haps, may  be  owing  to  the  difference  of  soils.  This 
offers  an  occasion  to  the  Mentor,  who  directs  the 
Group  to  give  them  a  lesson  on  the  varieties  of  soils; 
and  this  study,  continued  in  other  groups,  will  initiate 
them  by  degrees  into  an  elementary  knowledge  of  the 
mineral  kingdom.  This  incentive  will  be  an  induce- 
ment for  them  to  attend  the  schools,  and  apply  them- 
selves to  the  study  of  some  branch  of  mineralogy  such 
as  the  classification  of  earths. 

Thus  Association  never  gives  to  the  child  any  SIM- 
PLE INSTRUCTION.  It  only  initiates  it  into  one  science, 
hy  combining  that  science  with  practical  notions  pre- 
viously acquired  in  different  branches  of  Industry, 
particularly  in  agriculture,  masonry  and  carpentry. 

Agricultural  rivalries  will  early  accustom  children 
to  a  speculative  or  investigating  turn  of  mind.  It  is 
very  necessary  in  the  cultivation  of  flowers:  what  is 
more  difficult  to  raise  to  perfection  than  the  jonquil, 
the  narcissus,  the  tulip,  the  varieties  of  the  rose  and 


438  BRANCHES   OF    AGRICULTURE 

violet?  If  Nature  requires  so  much  knowledge  in  the 
care  of  these  flowers,  it  is  because  she  wishes  to  ac- 
custom the  minds  of  children,  who  have  a  passion  for 
their  cultivation,  to  a  habit  of  examination  and  re- 
flection. 

Nature  has  also  reserved  them  some  parts  in  the 
heavier  branches  of  agriculture,  such  as  the  cultivation 
of  buck-wheat,  beans,  peas,  etc.  A  group  of  children, 
devoted  to  the  cultivation  of  these  vegetables,  is 
obliged  to  study  the  qualities  of  soils  and  manures,  and 
to  understand  the  influence  of  climate  in  order  to 
comprehend  the  cause  of  the  success  of  this  or  that 
Phalanx.  A  child,  devoted  from  rivalry  and  pas- 
sion to  these  occupations,  will  insensibly  become  a 
chemist  and  a  naturalist,  thinking  itself  occupied 
merely  with  the  rivalries  of  its  Group  and  its  Pha- 
lanx. 

The  whole  system  of  agriculture  is  deranged  by  the 
exclusion  of  women  and  children  from  its  occupa- 
tions, to  whom  Nature  assigns  the  care  of  so  many 
varieties  of  fruits,  flowers  and  vegetables.  The  greater 
portion  of  our  gardens,  and  all  the  smaller  classes  of 
fruit  trees  and  shrubbery,  should  be  allotted  to  women 
and  children.  The  child,  so  far  from  devoting  itself 
to  useful  industry,  enters  the  gardens  only  to  eat 
fruits,  which  it  has  not  aided  in  cultivating,  and  to 
pluck  and  destroy  the  flowers;  as  a  consequence  what 
is  most  to  be  desired  for  gardens,  is,  that  children 
should  not  set  foot  in  them. 

An  incontestible  proof  that  the  civilizees  do  not 
know  how  to  apply  the  labor  of  women  and  children 


ADAPTED    TO    CHILDHOOD.  439 

% 

to  agriculture,  is  that  man  is  obliged  to  abandon  those 
branches  of  Industry,  which  are  specially  allotted  to 
him  by  Nature,  such  as  works  of  irrigation  and  care 
of  forests.  He  cannot,  in  the  present  order,  devote 
himself  to  these  two  branches  of  industry,  because 
he  is  occupied  in  works,  which  properly  belong  to 
women  and  children,  such  as  the  care  of  small  do- 
mestic animals,  of  poultry,  the  gardens,  etc., — cares 
from  which  he  should  be  relieved  by  those  two  classes. 
The  male  sex  have  excluded  women  from  industry, 
believing  that  the  trivial  occupations  of  the  house- 
hold are  those  to  which  she  is  destined  by  Nature. 
What  is  the  result?  Man  himself  has  become  a  slave; 
instead  of  having  made  woman  subordinate,  he  has 
excited  both  in  the  woman  and  the  child  a  disgust  for 
Industry.  He  is  reduced  in  consequence  to  attend 
to  occupations  of  which  they  should  take  charge, 
and  has  besides,  to  support  THEM  BOTH  out  of  the 
product  of  hi»  labor.  This  is  the  result  of  all 
tyranny:  it  is  caught  in  its  own  snares. 

The  true  occupations  of  the  male  sex  .ire  those 
which  require  bodily  strength;  such  as: 

Works  of  Irrigation. 

Care  of  Forests. 

Cultivation  of  Grains. 

The  third  branch  absorbs  the  others;  the  agricul- 
tural classes  can  neither  attend  to  the  care  of  forests, 
nor  to  works  of  irrigation.  On  the  contrary,  the 
forests  are  fast  disappearing  in  all  older  countries, 
and  the  streams,  which  are  the  principal  means  of 
irrigation,  are  in  consequence  drying  up. 


440  BRANCHES    OF    AGRICULTURE 

f 

What  a  career  will  be  opened  to  man  in  Industry, 
soon  as  Association  makes  use  of  the  labor  and  ac- 
tivity of  woman  and  children!  Association  once  orga- 
nized, five-sixths  of  the  women  will  immediately  be 
free  to  devote  themselves  to  productive  occupations; 
this  result  will  be  produced  by  the  suppression  of  the 
complicated  and  useless  works,  which  arise  from  the 
multiplicity  of  little  households,  from  the  troublesome 
care  of  children,  from  the  bad  quality  of  manufac- 
tured goods,  and  from  the  foolish  changes  of  the 
fashions,  which  absorb  in  interminable  works  of  the 
needle,  and  in  superfluous  trifles,  so  many  women. 

When  this  complication,  waste  and  disorder  cease, 
it  will  be  found  that  five-sixths  of  the  women  will  be 
relieved  from  their  present  duties.  How  will  they 
occupy  themselves  ?  In  agriculture,  in  which  they 
will  perform  a  large  portion  of  the  minor  works, 
which  now  occupy  men.  The  rest  will  be  performed 
by  children,  in  whom  a  love  for  industry  will  be 
awakened  by  the  stimulants  of  the  passional  Series. 

As  a  consequence,  the  performance  of  the  heavier 
branches  only  of  industry  will  devolve  upon  the  male 
sex;  among  those  branches  are  to  be  included  the 
three  above  mentioned,  and  laborious  parts  of  ma- 
sonry, blacksmithing,  carpentry,  etc.  In  all  the 
minor  branches  of  agriculture, — such  as  the  cultiva- 
tion of  vegetable  and  flower  gardens,  they  will  merely 
take  an  accessory  part,  instead  of  having  the  constant 
charge  of  them;  this  duty  will  devolve  upon  the 
women  and  children. 

AH  true  and  natural  divisions  of  occupations  is  de- 


ADAPTED    TO    CHILDHOOD.  441 

stroyed  by  the  idleness  of  children,  and  by  our  house- 
hold complication  which  absorbs  the  entire  time  of 
the  women.  The  whole  burthen  of  production  falls 
consequently  upon  man  alone,  who  thus  overtasked, 
must  neglect  the  most  important  branches  of  industry, 
such  as  irrigation  and  the  care  of  forests.  He  slights 
the  task  of  his  own  sex,  in  order  to  attend  to  that  of 
women  and  children. 


The  foregoing  remarks  on  the  education  of  the  two  first  orders 
of.  childhood,  show  that  Association  will  have  for  the  education  of 
children,  means  and  resources,  of  which  men  in  civilization  have 
no  idea.  Authors,  who  have  written  upon  Education,  have  not 
comprehended  the  Degtiny  of  man.  They  have  not  discovered 
that  the  Greater  designed  him  for  a  system  of  Attractive  Industry, 
and  that  he  intended  the  child  should  be  initiated  ly  Attraction  into 
its  occupations,  before  it  was  into  the  sciences. 

The  field  of  civilized  education  is  miserably  circumscribed.  The 
child  is  taught  on  one  hand  abstract  principles  of  morality  and 
virtue ;  principles  which  it  cannot  apply  practically  in  the  conflicts 
of  interests  and  in  the  frauds  and  deceptions  of  the  society  around 
it ;  or  it  is  forced  to  learn  mechanically,  that  is,  by  mere  effort  of 
memory,  a  few  branches  of  science,  which  scarcely  dispel  primitive 
ignorance. 

We  will  now  proceed  to  give  a  short  analysis  of  a  corporation 
or  order  of  children,  which  FOURIER,  terms  the  Little  Horde*,  a 
corporation  which  will  take  upon  itself,  from  a  spirit  of  tocial 
rharity,  the  performance  of  all  those  dirty  and  filthy  branches  of 
work,  the  execution  of  which  would  degrade  grown  peraonii,  and 
derange  the  whole  mechanism  of  Association. 


442         CORPORATION    OF    THE    LITTLE    HORDES. 

One  of  the  greatest  apparent  difficulties  of  Association  is  to  pro- 
cure the  performance  of  repugnant  and  dirty  labor  which  in  civili- 
zation degrades  those  on  whom  its  burthen  falls.  This  obstacle  is 
constantly  brought  forward  by  persons  who  are  opposed  to  the  idea 
of  Association. 

If  every  body  is  well  off,  they  ask,  how  are  all  those  dirty  and 
filthy  branches 'of  work  to  be  executed,  which  excite  so  much  re- 
pugnance, and  which  in  civilization  are  undertaken  from  want  and 
poverty?  Among  those  branches  are  the  cleaning  of  sinks1  sewers 
and  privies,  the  performance  of  the  lowest  kinds  of  work  in  the 
kitchens  and  stables;  the  blacking  of  boots,  and  all  other  menial 
services,  which  are  now  performed  by  a  class  composed  of  the 
dregs  of  soeiety. 

Fourier  has  solved  the  difficulty  in  the  most  original,  and  at  the 
same  time,  in  a  most  natural  manner ;  and  as  triumphantly  as  he 
has  solved  this,  as  triumphantly  has  he  solved  all  others,  which  are 
hastily  raised  by -superficial  minds,  who  imagine  that  with  half 
an  hour's  reflection,  they  can  suggest  objections,  which,  during 
forty  years  of  investigation,  never  occurred  to  the  searching  and 
persevering  mind  of  the  immortal  genius,  who  has  solved  the  pro- 
blem of  ATTRACTIVE  INDUSTRY  and  the  HARMONY  OF  THE  PASSIONS. 


CORPORATION    OF   THE    LITTLE    HORDES.         443 


CHAPTER  THIRTY-FOURTH. 

CORPORATION    OF    THE    LITTLE    HORDES. 

Repugnant,  disgusting,  and  degrading  occupations 
are,  in  civilization,  overcome  by  pay;  but  in  an  order 
of  things  in  which  free  and  attractive  co-operation 
will  be  an  essential  character  of  the  social  mechanism, 
they  must  be  surmounted  by  attraction. 

The  whole  system  of  Attractive  Industry  would 
fall  prostrate,  if  means  were  not  found  of  connecting 
powerful  incentives  with  the  execution  of  all  disgust- 
ing branches  of  work,  the  performance  of  which  can 
at  present,  as  we  remarked,  only  be  procured  by 
money. 

If  we  succeed  in  connecting  powerful  Stimulants 
with  the  performance  of  filthy  functions,  which  are 
now  degrading,  and  secure  their  execution  by  attrac- 
tion, success  will  be  the  more  certain  with  all  those 
occupations  which  without  being  agreeable  are  sup- 
portable. 

To  attain  this  end,  it  will  be  necessary  to  organize 
a  Corporation  or  Band  of  children,  who,  for  the  main- 
tenance of  SOCIAL  UNITY,  will  take  upon  themselves 
the  performance  of  all  filthy  branches  of  work,  and 


444  CORPORATION    OF    THE 


communicate  by  their  devotion  a  respect  to  unclean 
and  repugnant  occupations,  which  in  turn  will  give 
a  lustre  to  all  works  of  minor  attraction,  such  as 
ploughing. 

If  repugnance  or  disgust  should  discredit  any 'branch 
of  industry,  the  Serie  devoted  to  it,  would,  as  a  con- 
sequence, become  abased,  and  its  members  considered 
as  a  vulgar  class.  Such  a  result  would  disturb  the 
whole  mechanism  of  Association.  Friendship  must 
be  general  among  all  classes,  in  order  that  the  rich 
may  feel  no  repugnance  in  taking  part  in  the  occupa- 
tions of  all  the  Series.  Attraction,  consequently,  must 
be  extended  to  every  branch  of  Industry,  and  care  be 
taken  that  no  branch  be  despised,  or  considered  even 
disreputable. 

h! i :••>*;    •;•;  ;;-T'j(i  I    -^i'.   :    \'i  ;jj  ••'••••• 

The  Little  Hordes  are  divided  into  three  classes. 

The  First  is  devoted  to  unclean  or  filthy  functions, 
such  as  cleaning  of  sinks,  sewers,  privies,  management 
of  manures,  etc.  The  Second  to  the  destruction  of  rep- 
tiles and  insects,  and  to  employments  requiring  dex- 
terity. The  Third  participates  in  the  functions  of 
both:  ._»:,{ 

No  passion  is  more  marked  in  children  from  ten  to 
twelve  years  of  age  than  that  of  filth  and  dirt.  If  we 
do  not  wish  to  change  the  passions,  we  must  find 
means  of  making  use  of  this  taste,  which  Nature,  it  is 
evident,  gives  to  one  half  of  children.  The  Com- 
bined order  will,  in  the  corporation  of  the  Little 
Hordes,  make  a  most  precious  use  in  social  equili- 
brium of  this  pretended  depravity  of  taste. 


•LITTLE    HORDES.  445 

Association  will  employ  the  passions  as  God 
created  them,  without  changing  their  nature.  This 
is  the  whole  mystery  and  secret  of  the  calculation  of 
Passional  Attraction.  The  question  is  not  discussed 
whether  the  Creator  was  right  or  wrong  in  giving  to 
mankind  such  and  such  passions  :  they  will  be  made 
use  of  as  God  gave  them. 

The  taste  for  dirty  occupations  is  harmless  and 
without  pretention  in  young  children;  it  takes  a 
higher  flight  in  those  from  nine  to  twelve;  they  carry 
it  from  the  simple  to  the  compound,  and  plot  vast 
plans  of  filthy  roguery.  For  example,  they  go  of 
an  evening  and  besmear  the  knockers  and  bell-handles 
of  doors  with  dirt;  their  delight  is  to  play  these 
pranks  upon  every  body.  Their  plots  are  well  plan- 
ned, and  dexterously  executed,  except  that  now  and 
then  they  receive  a  few  lashes,  which  do  not,  however, 
diminish  their  noble  ardor. 

Whence  comes  this  inclination  for  filth  in  boys  from 
ten  to  twelve  ?  Is  it  a  defect  of  education,  or  want 
of  precepts  ?  It  is  neither,  for  the  more  you  preach  to 
them  against  it,  the  more  they  will  persevere  in  it. 
Is  it  depravity  ?  Nature  then  must  be  depraved,  for 
it  is  she,  who  gives  them  this  passion  !  If  the  system 
of  Attraction  be  true  in  all  its  details,  this  attraction 
must  be  given  for  a  useful  purpose,  in  as  much  as  it 
is  so  strong  with  a  majority  of  children  of  this  age. 

This  enigma  cannot  be  solved  in  civilization;  As- 
sociation explains  it;  the  taste  for  dirt  is  a  necessary 
impulse  to  enlist  children  in  the  corporation  of  the 
L'tlle  Hordes,  to  induce  them  to  undergo  gaily  the 


448  CORPORATION    OF    THE 

disgust  connected  with  dirty  work,  and  to  open  for 
themselves  in  filthy  functions,  a  vast  career  of  indus- 
trial glory  and  unitary  philanthrophy. 

The  inclination  for  dirt,  which  we  find  predomi- 
nant in  children,  is  but  a  rude  germ;  it  must  be  re- 
fined by  the  application  of  two  incentives:  Unitary 
religious  spirit  and  Corporative  honor.  Sustained 
by  these  incentives,  repugnant  occupations  will  be- 
come for  children  the  sports  of  a.  compound  indirect 
Attraction. 

In  taking  upon  themselves  the  performance  of 
mephitical  functions,  in  which  the  health  of  the  labor- 
ing mass  at  present  is  frequently  undermined,  chil- 
dren in  the  Combined  order  will  never  expose  theirs, 
being  always  well  cleaned  and  perfumed  before  and 
after  a  short  period  of  labor. 

With  these  preliminary  remarks,  let  us  proceed  to 
examine  the  influence  of  this^  Corporation  in  Passional 
and  Social  equilibrium. 

Why  is  childhood  called  to  fulfil  a  principal  part  in 
the  mechanism  of  general  friendship  ?  It  is  because 
with  children,  of  the  affective  passions,  friendship  is 
the  predominant  one.  Neither  love  nor  the  ties  of 
consanguinity  counteract  its  sway;  it  consequently  is 
to  them  that  we  must  look  for  friendship  in  all  its 
purity.  To  this  passion  must  be  given,  its  most  noble 
development,  that  of  unitary  social  Charity;  it  will 
prevent  the  abasement  of  the  poorer  classes,  and 
maintain,  by  the  assumption  of  all  degrading  func- 
tions, general  friendship  between  the  rich  and  the 
poor. 


LITTLE    HORDES.  447 

If  there  existed  in  the  Combined  order  a  single 
function,  which  was  despised,  which  was  deemed 
ignoble  and  degrading,  for  the  class  that  exercised  it, 
all  inferior  parts  or  duties  in  the  different  branches  of 
industry,  for  example  in  the  stables,  kitchens,  private 
rooms,  manufactories,  etc.  would  soon  be  despised; 
this  degradation  would  extend  gradually  from  branch 
to  branch,  a  contempt  for  labor  would  grow  up  again 
by  degrees,  and  the  result  would  be  that  those  per- 
sons who  produced  nothing,  and  were  good  for  no- 
thing, would  constitute,  as  in  civilization,  the  polite 
classes.  They  would  in  the  end  cease  to  take  a  part 
in  the  Industrial  Series,  and  avoid  all  social  relations 
with  the  poorer  classes. 

IT  IS  FOR  CHILDHOOD  TO  PRESERVE  THE  SOCIAL 
BODY  FROM  THIS  CONTAMINATION,  by  taking  UpOU 

itself,  from  a  corporative  spirit,  the  performance  ot 
all  unclean  and  despised  functions,  which  it  will  exer- 
cise for  the  mass  and  not  for  the  individual.  (We 
must  except,  however,  attendance  upon  the  sick,  the 
care  of  whom  can  only  be  confided  to  a  corporation 
of  adults;  still  here  the  Little  Hordes  will  intervene 
for  the  performance  of  uncleanly  functions.)  It  is 
only  from  this  age  that  we  can  expect  the  performance, 
by  indirect  attraction,  of  all  branches  of  repugnant 
works. 

And  what  means  will  be  employed  to  induce  the 
Little  Hordes  to  perform  these  prodigies  of  philan- 
thropy ?  A  few  honors;  the  first  rank  at  parades,  a 
salute  of  supremacy,  the  privilege  of  commencing 
important  undertakings,  and  of  occupying  difficult 


448  CORPORATION    OF    THE 

posts!  This  will  be  recompencing  one  labor  by 
another.  Such  will  be  the  policy  of  the  Combined 
order,  which  is  alone  adapted  to  the  instincts  of  the 
human  heart.  In  civilization  the  most  austere  orders 
receive  often  from  their  members  the  greatest  devo- 
tion. What  will  it  be  with  the  Little  Hordes,  with 
whose  devotion  nothing  materially  painful  or  disa- 
greeable will  be  connected,  thanks  to  the  inclination 
which  we  find  at  this  age  to  make  a  sport  of  filthy  and 
dirty  occupations. 

For  a  long  time  I  committed  the  fault  of  blaming 
this  inclination  in  children,  and  sought  to  counteract 
it  in  the  mechanism  of  the  Passional  Series;*  it  was 
the  labor  of  a  Titan  who  wished  to  change  the  work 
of  God.  I  obtained  no  success  until  I  commenced 
speculating  in  accordance  with  attraction,  and  en- 
deavored to  make  use  of  these  inclinations  in  child- 
hood as  Nature  created  them.  This  study  led  me  to 
discover  the  Corporation,  which  we  have  here  de- 
scribed, and  which  is  one  of  the  four  main  supports 
of  the  Combined  Order,  and  one  of  the  cardinal  levers 
in  passional  equilibrium.^ 

Each  of  the  four  affective  passions  is  particularly 
predominant  in  one  of  the  four  Phases  of  life.  Friend- 
ship governs  infancy,  or  the  first  phasis;  and  at  no  age 

*  It  is  to  be  remembered  that  this  chapter  is  translated  from 
Fourier,  and  that  it  is  he,  who  is  here  speaking. 

t  The  Corporation  of  the  Little  Hordes  will  maintain  harmony 
and  equilibrium  in  the  cardinal  passion  Friendship.  Other  Cor- 
porations will  maintain  the  same  harmony  and  equilibrium  in 
Love,  Ambition  and  Paternity :  one  of  the  great  ends  of  Association 
is  to  maintain  passional  equilibrium  in  the  four  cardinal  passions. 


LITTLE    HOHDES.  449 

is  this  passion  mote  frank  and  strong  than  in  childhood. 
How  are  children  to  produce  and  maintain  general 
Friendship  among  all  classes  and  all  mankind;  which 
general  friendship  forms  one  of  the  cardinal  pivots  of 
Unity?  This  problem  is  solved  by  the  Little  Hordes; 
they  will  exercise  the  only  branch  of  charity,  which 
will  remain  to  be  performed  in  the  Combined  order. 
There  will  be  no  more  poor  to  succor,  no  more  cap- 
tives to  deliver,  no<  more  Slaves  to  free  ;  the  perfor- 
mance of  filthy  and  degrading  functions  consequently 
will  alone  remain,  and  they  will  be  assumed  by  chil- 
dren. This  is  a  charity  of  a  high  order,  as  it  will 
preserve  from  social  inequality  and  abasement  the 
poorer,  and  as-  a  consequence,  the  middle  classes  of 
society.  It  will  establish  that  fraternity — that  free 
intercourse  between  all  classes,  which  has  been  so 
long  the  dream  of  politicians  and  philosophers. 

If  in  Association,  the  people  be  polite,  upright  and 
exempt  from  want,  trtere  can  exist  no  distrust  or 
contempt  on  the  part  of  the  rich  toward  the  poorer 
classes.  A  friendly  enthusiasm  consequently  will 
animate  all  the  industrial  Groups,  in  which  the  poor 
will  necessarily  mingle  with  the  rich.  Thus  the 
dream  of  making  all  mankind  a  family  of  brothers, 
will  be  realized. 

This  precious  UNITY  would  cease,  from  the  moment 
that  there  existed  in  Association  a  single  degrading 
and  despised  function.. 

The  Little  Horde*  rank  a*  the  Militia  of  God  in 
the  service  of  INDUSTRIAL  UNITT.  Preservers  »f 
social  houor,  they  will  crush  the  head  of  the  serpent 

89 


450  CORPORATION    OP    THE 

both  in  a  physical  and  a  moral  sense;  at  the  same  time 
that  they  purge  the  fields  of  reptiles,  they  will  purge 
society  of  a  venom  worse  than  that  of  the  viper:  they 
will  smother,  by  the  assumption  of  all  filthy  occupa- 
tions, that  pride,  which  in  undervaluing  any  of 
the  industrial  classes,  would  tend  to  establish  anew 
distinctions  of  rank,  and  destroy  general  friendship. 
For  the  happiness  of  society  they  will  practice  the 
self-denial  recommended  by  Christianity,  and  the 
contempt  of  riches,  recommended  by  philosophy. 
They  will  in  short,  be  the  centre  of  all  social  virtues 
both  in  a  religious  and  civic  sense;  and  their  Corpora- 
tion will  furnish  one  of  the  four  supports  upon  which 
Association  rests: 

Industrial  Attraction. 

Equilibrium  in  the  division  of  profits. 

Friendly  intercourse  between  all  classes. 

Equilibrium  of  population  without  constraint. 

The  Little  Hordes  are  paid  by  honors  without  end ! 

In   important    industrial    enterprizes,   they   take   the 

lead,  and  receive  from  the  highest  authorities  the  first 

salute.     In  the  temple,  their  place  is  at  the  altar,  and 

in  all  ceremonies,  they  occupy  the  post  of  honor! 

,«v.'iit'nd    i<>  v!ir:if.i   r    bnijunri    !•/  vniAr.i\i    i 

There  are  some  other  functions  reserved  the  Little 
Hordes;  they  will  have  the  daily  supervision  of  the 
surface  of  highways.  Roads  being  considered  a 
branch  of  material  unity,  the  Little  Hordes  will  as  a 
corporation  devoted  to  the  cause  of  unity,  attend  to 
ornamenting  and  keeping  them  in  order. 

To  the  pride  of  the  Little  Hordes,  the  Combined 

r 


v-   LITTLE    HORDES.  451 

Order  will  be  indebted  for  highways  as  sumptuous  as 
the  alleys  of  our  gardens.  Their  borders  will  be 
ornamented  with  trees  and  shrubbery,  and  even 
flowers  in  the  distance. 

The  Little  Hordes  have  also  the  supervision  of  the 
animal  kingdom.  Whoever  ill  treats  or  abuses  an 
animal,  will  have  to  answer  for  it  before  the  council 
or  court  of  their  Order;  whatever  his  age  may  be,  he 
will  be  brought  before  a  tribunal  of  children,  as  in- 
ferior in  reason  to  children  themselves.  Animals 
being  productive  in  proportion  only  to  the  care  be- 
stowed upon  them,  he  who  abuses  these  poor  crea- 
tures, which  can  offer  no  resistance,  will  be  considered 
more  of  a  brute  than  the  brutes  he  persecute?. 


29* 


452  PASSIONAL    ATTRACTION. 


o        iw 
'/no  lo  BV1)! 


.iwnnfai!,  Vl  tii 
wit  "In   jMn'tvT.'uK  o/f)  '.vis:  :>VJ;M  K^Lioi'  "'ULI  -j;{T 


CHAPTER   THIRTY-FIFTH. 

•)i\  ,od  -{Km  ^-?  s»i'H-  Trrj!r.rlw  rulnO  -11^!^  "*•:)  »!ijo-»  -,( 

PASSIONAL    ATTRACTION. 

•'.fi  rttiriA         JSovI'nmodJ    c'nMiff1)   oj    ru^'-j*!    ni    :on-»l 

The  study  of  Man,  which  is  believed  to  be  ex- 

hausted, has  been  a  complete  failure.     Philosophers 

have  merely  been  occupied  with  the  superficies  of  the 

question;  that  is  —  with  metaphysical  disquisitions,  the 

generation  of  ideas  and  other  accessories,  which  are 

valueless  as  sciences,  so  long  as  we  do  not  possess  the 

fundamental  Science,  the  Theory  of  the  passions,  or 

springs  of  action  of  the  Soul. 

To  understand  those  springs  and  the  purpose  for 
which  they  were  created,  we  must  go  into  an  analyti- 
cal and  synthetical  examination  of  Passional  Attrac- 
tion.* Its  synthesis  explains  the  mechanism  of  Do- 
mestic and  Industrial  Association,  which  is  the 
Destiny  of  human  societies. 

*  The  synthetical  examination  shows  us  the  general  or  collective 
tendencies  of  the  twelve  passions  without  separating  them.  In 
the  table,  page  160,  those  tendencies  are  pointed  out. 

The  analytical  examination  shows  us  the  tendency  of  each 
passion  separately. 

The  five  Sensitive  passions  tend  to  material  riches,  refinement 
and  harmonies.  If  we  analyze  them,  we  shall  find  that  each 
regulates  one  branch  of  the  physical  world  ;  the  sense  of  hearing 


PASSIONAL    ATTRACTION.  453 

The  idea  of  a  pre-established  Destiny,  of  a  Social 
Code  adapted  to  the  passions,  and  pre-existing  in  the 
mind  of  the  Divinity  before  the  creation  of  man,  is 
ridiculed  or  disbelieved  in  by  the  Scientific  of  the  day. 

Nevertheless,  how  is  it  possible  to  conceive  that  a 
Being  infinitely  wise,  could  have  created  our  passions 
without  having  first  determined  upon  their  employ- 
ment! Could  the  Divinity,  occupied  for  an  eternity 
past  in  creating  and  organizing  worlds,  have  been 
ignorant  that  the  first  collective  want  of  their  inhabi- 
tants, is  a  code  to  regulate  their  passions  and  societies  ? 

regulates  the  harmony  of  sounds ;  the  sense  of  sight,  the  harmony 
of  lines,  forms  and  colors  ; — which  insures  beauty  in  architecture 
and  in  all  objects  which  surround  us.  The  sense  of  smell  leads 
to  refinement  in  odors  ;  that  of  taste,  to  refinement  in  flavors.  Thus 
the  sensitive  passions  combinedly  govern  the  whole  range  of  ma- 
terial harmonies,  and  stamp  upon  the  physical  world  the  har- 
mony of  the  passional.  The  Passional  movement  is  the  most 
perfect :  God  in  endowing  man  with  a  full  scale  of  passional  har- 
monies, and  in  placing  him  upon  the  earth  as  overseer,  made  him 
his  agent  to  give  to  all  the  details  and  creations  of  the  material 
world  over  which  he  presides,  the  perfection  of  the  Passional 
principle. 

The  four  affective  passions  govern  social  relation*,  or  those  of 
individuals;  Friendship  tends  to  social  equality,  and  to  the  leveling 
of  ranks ;  Love  regulates  the  relations  of  the  sexes  ;  Paternity  those 
of  ages  and  generations ;  Ambition  produces  hierarchy  of  ranks 
and  distinctions  among  individuals;  it  establishes  in  society  grada- 
tions of  all  kinds,  based  upeu  skill,  merit,  talent,  etc. ;  it  is  opposite 
in  its  effects  to  friendship. 

Thus  each  of  the  twelve  passions  has  its  function  assigned  it; 
if  we  examine  each  separately,  we  see  the  different  ends  to  which 
man  is  impelled;  if  we  examine  them  collectively,  the  general  end. 
From  this  special  and  general  examination,  we  can  deduce  the 
laws  of  a  social  system,  which  will  enable  us  to  attain  those  ends ; — 
that  i»— our  Destiny. 


454  PASSIONAL    ATTRACTION. 

Under  the  direction  of  our  pretended  sages,  the 
passions  engender  scourges,  which  would  make  us 
doubt  whether  they  were  the  work  of  an  evil  spirit 
or  of  the  Divinity.  Try  successively  the  laws  of 
men  most  revered,  of  a  Solon  or  a  Dracon,  of  a  Lycur- 
gus  or  a  Minos,  and  you  will  find  that  they  constantly 
reproduce  the  nine  permanent  scourges,  which  consti- 
tute the  subversive  mechanism  or  false  development 
of  the  passions.  Must  not  God  have  forseen  this 
shameful  result  of  human  legislation  ?  He  could  have 
seen  its  effect  in  millions  of  globes  created  prior  to 
ours;  he  must  have  known,  before  creating  and  giving 
us  passions,  that  human  reason  would  be  incapable  of 
harmonizing  them,  and  that  the  human  race  would 
require  a  legislator  wiser  than  itself. 

As  a  consequence  God,  unless  we  believe  his  provi- 
dence inefficient,  circumscribed  and  indifferent  as  to 
our  happiness,  must  have  composed  for  us  a  Passional 
code,  or  a  system  for  the  regulation  of  our  social  and 
domestic  relations,  applicable  to  all  mankind,  who 
everywhere  have  the  same  passions  ;  and  he  must 
have  interpreted  to  us  this  code  by  means  which 
would  leave  no  doubt  of  its  excellence  and  its  origin. 

There  must  consequently  exist  for  us  a  pre-estab- 
lished destiny,  or  a  system  for  the  regulation  of  our 
social  and  industrial  relations,  fixed  upon  by  God  be~ 
fore  creating  and  giving  us  passions.  The  task  of 
genius  was  to  search  for  it,  and  preliminarily  to  lay 
down  by  what  method  the  investigation  should  be 
pursued.  The  method  can  be  no  other  than  a  syn- 
thetical and  analytical  calculation  of  passional  Attrac- 


PASSIONAL    ATTRACTION. 


lion,  in  as  much  as  Attraction  is  the  only  known 
interpreter  between  God  and  the  Universe. .^aosaiq 
Another  proof:  how  can  we  suppose  God  more 
imprudent  than  the  merest  novice  in  mechanics! 
When  a  man  collects  materials  for  building,  does  he 
fail  to  make  a  plan  for  their  employment?  What 
would  we  think  of  a  person  who,  purchasing  cut- 
stone,  frame  work,  and  materials  of  every  kind  for 
the  construction  of  a  vast  edifice,  did  not  know  what 
kind  of  a  building  he  intended  to  erect,  and  acknow- 
ledged that  he  had  collected  all  these  materials,  with- 
"  ^  *}  •  •  1 1  j rii  ^ . I*.*  I )  i*  i  p-  *  & )  "loflonsi  n  **) i /  ^ 'K-  ./  *'?*'  > . .  ? \. 
out  having  thought  of  the  use  to  which  he  should  ap- 
ply them?  such  a  man  would  be  pronounced  insane. 

Such  nevertheless  is  the  want  of  foresight,  which 
our  men  of  science  attribute  to  the  Divinity,  in  sup- 
posing that  he  could  have  created  the  passions,  attrac- 
tions, characters,  instincts  and  other  materials  of  the 
Social  Edifice,  WITHOUT  HAVING  FIXED  UPON  ANY 

PLAN  FOR  THEIR  EMPLOYMENT. 

It  may  be  thought  perhaps  that  God  did  not  know 
how  to  compose  for  us  a  code?  Or  that  he  may  have 
had  to  leave  the  task  of  regulating  the  social  and  in- 
dustrial mechanism  of  societies  to  the  wisdom  of  a 
Solon  or  a  Justinian?  It  is  an  outrage  upon  common 
sense  to  suspect  the  Divinity  of  such  a  want  of  intelli- 
gence; we  consequently  must  believe,  in  spite  of 
scientific  prejudices,  that  there  exists  for  man  a  pre- 
established  System  for  Me  regulation  of  his  Social 
relations,  based  upon  a  divine  theory,  existing  prior 
to  the  creation  of  our  globe;  a  mechanisni  of  Social 
and  Industrial  Unity,  the  laws  of  which  human 


456  PASSIONAL    ATTRACTION. 

reason  should  have  endeavored  to  discover  instead  of 
presuming,  Titan  like,  to  exercise  the  highest  function 
of  God,  which  is  the  direction  of  the  Social  or  Pas- 
sional Movement. 

Of  all  impiety  the  greatest  is  that  impertinent  pre- 
judice, which  suspects  the  Divinity  of  having  created 
men,  the  passions  and  the  materials  of  Industry, 
without  having  fixed  upon  any  plan  for  their  orga- 
nization. To  suppose  it,  as  to  attribute  to  the  Creator 
a  want  of  reason,  for  which  men  would  blush;  it  is 
falling  into  an  irreligion  worse  than  Atheism;  for  the 
Atheist  does  not  dishonor  God  in  denying  his  ex- 
istence; he  only  dishonors  himself  by  entertaining  an 
opinion  bordering  upon  madness.  But  our  legislators 
strip  the  Supreme  Being  of  his  highest  prerogative: 
they  pretend  implicitly  that  God  has  not  destined  us 
to  social  harmony  and  Unity,  that  he  has  not  pre- 
calculated  a  society  which  would  lead  to  those  results, 
and  that  he  is  incapable  of  legislating.  He  would 
be  so,  if,  after  the  experience  he  has  acquired  during 
a  past  eternity  in  the  material  and  passional  organiza- 
tion and  distribution  of  worlds,  he  had  forgot  to 
provide  for  the  most  urgent  of  their  collective  wants, 
that  of  a  unitary  passional  code,  and  a  permanent 
revelation  of  that  code.  *  ,j,i. 

•iliojfli  *h>  Jncw  j:  •i-jir-.  io  vjioivi(?  offj  jjj./i«ita  oj  -.)&/>.«;• 

*  The  permanent  revelation  of  that  Code  is  to  be  ibund  in  the 
constant  tendencies  of  our  attractions  and  passions,  when  rightly 
developed.  Our  Attractions  and  passions  are  expressions  of  the 
will  of  the  Divinity,  and  as  they  are  ever  acting,  they  are  a  perma- 
nent expression — that  is  revelation — of  his  will;  he  has  given  them 
to  us  as  an  impelling  power,  and  it  is  through  them  that  he  makes 
known  his  intentions  to  us.  They  are,  so  to  say,  commands  from 
him,  and  as  experience  proves,  they  cannot  be  resisted.  Exterior 


PASSKWAL    ATTRACTION.  457 

This  proves  clearly  that  there  is  a  pre-established 
Destiny  or  Passional  code,  preexisting  in  the  mind 
of  God  prior  to  the  creation  of  each  globe.  So  long 
as  we  have  not  discovered  'that  code,t  we  know 
nothing  of  the  nature  of  man,  inasmuch  ^as  we  are 
ignorant  of  the  employment  and  end  assigned  by  God 
to  the  springs  of  action  of  our  soul,  which  are  the 
passions,  attractions,  etc.,  and  to  human  societies 
directed  by  those  springs. 

And  as  God  must  have  composed  a  code  for  our 
passions  and  for  the  regulation  of  our  social,  industrial 
and  domestic  relations,  he  would  not  wish  to  hide  it 
from  us,  -but  render  its  discovery  as  easy  as  possible. 
He  has  not  hidden  from  us  one  branch  of  Universal 
Movement,  which  is  much  less  important  to  our 
happiness  that  of  material  gravitation  and  sideral 
harmonies,  he  initiated  us,  through  Newton,  into  those 
mysteries  of  the  equilibrium  of  the  Universe,  judged 
impenetrable  in  all  former  ages. 

Our  scientific  bodies  are  consequently  at  fault  for 
having  instituted  no  investigation  of  the  theory  of  the 
Social  laws  of  the  Divinity,  and  more  so,  for  having 
spread  doubt  and  discouragement,  for  having  in- 


circumstanccs,  that  is  a  false  organization  of  society,  may  thwart 
and  derange  their  action,  and  caiue  duplicity  and  discord;  but  the 
same  derangement  may  take  place  in  every  active  power  in  the 
Universe.  We  should  no  more  condemn  the  passions  on  that  ac- 
count, than  we  would  condemn  music,  because  an  unskilful  hand 
might  produce  discord. 

See  in  Chapter  17th;  "  Attractions  proportional  to  Destinies.1' 

t  To  comprehend  why  thin  Code  has  not  yet  been  discovered,  sec 
Chapters  Sixteenth  and  Twenty -fourth. 


458  PASSIONAL.    ATTRACTION. 

sinuated  the  ways  of  God  were  inscrutable,  and  that 
Nature  was  covered  with  a  veil  of  bronze.  If  such 
be  the  case,  it  follows  that  all  scientific  bodies  devoted 
to  the  study  of  Nature,  should  be  suppressed,  for  if 
the  veil  be  of  bronze,  they  cannot  raise  it,  and  can 
only  promulgate  dangerous  sophisms  or  useless  con- 
jectures. 

This  assertion,  however,  has  become  ridiculous 
since  the  success  of  Newton,  who,  in  raising  a  corner 
of  the  veil,  has  proved  that  a  more  extended  investiga- 
tion might  raise  it  entirely,  and  that  it  is  not  of 
bronze,  inasmuch  as  he,  Newton,  tore  asunder  a  por- 
tion of  it. 

Whenever  a  branch  of  studies  is  neglected  by  the 
positive  sciences,  we  see  some  scientific  charlatanism 
take  its  place.  Before  chemistry,  we  had  Alchemists; 
before  mathematical  astronomy,  Astrologers;  before 
.natural  philosophy,  magicians,  etc.  Thus  the  human 
mind  is  condemned  to  fall  into  error,  whenever  it 
departs  from  the  positive  sciences;  and  thus  it  is  that 
civilization  has  been  falsely  directed  from  its  com- 
mencement by  divers  classes  of  .Sophists,  who  pretend 
that  no  happier  Social  Destiny  than  civilization  is  in 
reserve  for  man.  Instead  of  conscientious  studies  on 
the  difficult  problem  of  Social  harmony,  they  find  it 
easier  and  more  lucrative  to  put  forth  their  own  crude 
and  arbitrary  systems. 

•Hi}  JU     1  t'i!    O     "I  .         '    •;<     y  ifclt'  J     Vi'ji!     JUltl's;  .1    T'j'i     >l|{Mt 

If  an  error  be  entertained  for  three  years  by  an 
individual,  thirty  by  a  family,  three  hundred  by  a 
society,  it  may  in  proportion  be  continued  for  three 
thousand  years  by  the  human  race;  particularly  when 
propagated  by  the  learned,  who  coincide  in  the 
superficial  prejudice,  which  supposes  God  created  the 


PASSIONAL    ATTRACTION.  459 

passions  without  having  first  composed  a  code  to  regu- 
late their  social  action. 

Until  the  human  race  discover  their  social  Destiny, 
they  vegetate  in  a  state  of  political  imbecility:  their 
progress  in  some  of  the  positive  sciences,  such  as 
mathematics,  chemistry  natural  philosophy,  etc.,  are 
useless  trophies,  as  they  afford  no  remedy  for  human 
miseries.  The  greater  the  honor  which  is  due  to  the 
positive  sciences  for  their  success,  the  greater  the 
reproach  due  to  our  political  and  philosophical  scien- 
ces for  having  done  nothing  for  the  happiness  of 
mankind,  and  for  having,  after  thirty  centuries  of  cor- 
rectives and  reforms,  left  all  the  scourges  of  our  sub- 
versive societies  more  deeply  rooted  than  before. 

,'Ilif        '.  >yx        >  •   •  '   >  V/,      ?-\l\        IVll^  AllOiVA 

Let  us  now  proceed  to  examine  the  agent — Passional 
Attraction — which  God  makes  use  of  in  directing 
the  Social  Movement  and  in  the  government  of  all  his 

creations. 

.    (11  i;<»   "»ni  rn>;      01    ??9(iif](j&n 

Attraction  is,  in  the  hands  of  God,  a  magic  wand, 
which  enables  him  to  secure  from  love  and  pleasure 
the  performance  of  work,  which  man  can  alone  obtain 
by  constraint  or  violence.  It  gives  a  charm  to  func- 
tions, which  are  in  themselves  the  most  repulsive. 
What  is  more  disagreeable  than  the  care  of  a  young 
infant  with  its  dirt,  cries  and  helplessness?  how  does 
God  transform  into  pleasure  a  care  so  repugnant?  He 
gives  the  mother  passional  attraction  for  this  disa- 
greeable duty;  he  merely  makes  use  of  his  magic  pre- 
rogative; that  of  IMPARTING  ATTRACTION.  Before  it 
the  best  founded  causes  of  disgust  disappear,  and  are 
changed  into  pleasures. 

To  appreciate  the  value  of  this  faculty,  which  be- 


PASSIONAL    ATTRACTION. 


longs  exclusively  to  God,  let  us  suppose  it  the  attri- 
bute of  some  ambitious  monarch.  Invested  with  the 
power  of  DISTRIBUTING  ATTRACTION,  he  would  re- 
quire neither  courts  -of  justice  nor  armies  to  secure  the 
execution  of  his  decrees,  and  to  subject  to  his  sway 
the  entire  globe:  he  would  merely  have  to  give  to  all 
nations  ATTRACTION,  for  such  a  form  of  government 
as  he  might  desire.  If  it  were  for  civilization,  for 
example,  with  its  spirit  of  pillage  and  war,  all  nations 
to  whom  he  had  given  Attraction  for  this  happy 
system,  would  hasten  to  bring  him  their  treasures, 
and  furnish  men  for  his  armies.  He  could  besides 
give  to  all  monarchs  far  and  near  Attraction  to  ac- 
knowledge his  supremacy;  they  would  all  send 
ambassadors  to  offer  him  their  submission,  and  to  pro- 
claim him  sovereign  of  the  globed 

°  &       .         :-c/or/      .'Lo^  ••;;; 

And  as   both  rulers  and  nations  would  find  their 

happiness  in  carrying  out  those  measures  to  'which 
this  sovereign  had  imparted  the  charm  of  Attraction, 
we  must  acknowledge  that,  as  exclusive  possessor  of 
this  talisman,  he  would  be  a  madman  to  resort  to  other 
means,  such  as  constraint,  punishments  and  wars  to 
force  the  execution  of  his  plans;  it  would  be  on  his 
part  gratuitous  malignity  and  gross  deception;  for 
besides  causing  the  misery  of  his  own  and  neighboring 
subjects,  he  would  fail  in  his  plan  of  Universal  do- 
minion by  the  resistance  of  tyrannized  nations:  where- 
as by  making  use  of  the  magic  lever  of  Attraction, 
he  would,  at  the  end  of  a  few  years,  become  the 
peaceable  possessor  of  the  entire  globe,  and  that  with- 
out having  incurred  any  expense,  run  any  risks,  or 
wronged  a  single  individual. 


PASSIONAL    AT  TRACT  10  ST.  461 

Such  is  the  position  of  God  with  regard  to  his 
creatures.  Exclusive  possessor  of  the  most  powerful 
of  levers, — the  talisman  of  Attraction, — would  he  not 
be  the  persecutor  of  his  creatures,,  if  neglecting  so 
pleasing  an  authority,  he  resorted  to  other  means  than 
Attraction  to  govern  the  Universe? 

We  see  that  God  employs  Attraction  alone  to-  di- 
rect and  govern  the  movements  of  planets  and  suns, — 
which  are  creations  immensely  superior  to  us,  and 
animals  and  insects,  which  are  creations  infinitely 
inferior  to  us.  Is  man  then  alone  excluded  from  the 
happiness  of  being  directed  to  social  good  by  Attrac- 
tion? Why  this  interruption  in  the  system  of  the 
Universe?  Why  does  not  Attraction,  which  interprets 
to  planets  and  insects  the  laws  and  will  of  the  Divinity, 
and  which  directs  them  to  harmony,  suffice  for  man, 
who  is  a  being  midway  between  planets  and  animals? 
How  can  there  be  UNITF  in  the  system  of  the  Di- 
vinity, if  the  lever  of  universal  Harmony, — Attrac- 
tion,— be  not  applicable  to  the  human  race,  as  it  is  to 
planets  and  animals, — and  if  Attraction  cannot  be  in- 
troduced into  Industry,  which  is  the  foundation  or 
pivot  of  the  social  mechanism? 

The  exercise  of  Industry,  which  is  the  delight  of 
industrial  animals  and  insects,  such  as  the  beaver,  the 
ant,  the  bee,  the  wasp  and  others,  is  for  man  a  scourge 
and  a  burden,  which  he  throws  off  as  soon  as  he 
possesses  his  liberty.  The  laboring  mass  in  civiliza- 
tion aim  only  at  ease  and  idleness  ;  and  the  savage, 
as  his  supreme  imprecation,  says  to  his  enemy;  may 
you  be  reduced  to  till  the  earth. 

As  it  is  evident  that  we  are  destined  by  God  to  the 


PASSIONAL    ATTRACTION. 

exercise  of  Industry,  why  is  it  that  he  has  given  us 
no  code  for  the  regulation  of  our  industrial  relations, 
no  natural  attraction  for  labor?  Why  is  Labor,  which, 
as  it  is  asserted,  is  our  Destiny,  a  scourge  for  the  la- 
boring mass  of  civilized  and  barbarian  societies,  who 
only  strive  to  escape  its  burden,  and  who  would  in  a 
moment  abandon  its  exercise,  if  they  were  not  forced 
to  it  from  want  and  constraint? 

Labor,  however,  is  the  delight  of  various  animals, 
such  as  beavers,  ants,  bees,  and  wasps,  etc. ,  which 
are  perfectly  free  to  remain  idle;  but  God  has  given 
them  attraction  for  their  Industry,  and  they  find  their 
happiness  in  its  exercise.  Why  should  he  not  have 
accorded  to  man  the  boon  which  he  has  accorded  those 
creatures!  what  a  difference  between  their  industrial 
condition  and  his!  The  populations  of  countries, 
where  feudal  bondage  and  slavery  exist,  work  from 
the  fear  of  punishment  and  the  lash;  and  those  of  the 
most  advanced  civilized  countries,  from  fear  of  want 
and  starvation,  which  are  pressing  constantly  upon 
their  poor  families:  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  whose 
liberty  is  so  highly  extolled,  worked  from  fear  of  the 
lash,  like  the  negro  slaves  of  the  present  day. 

Such  is  the  happiness  of  man  in  the  absence  of  a 
system  of  Attractive  Industry;  and  such  the  results 
of  human  laws  and  political  constitutions;  they  reduce 
mankind  to  a  condition  beneath  that  of  animals,  for 
which  Attraction  changes  labor  into  pleasure.  What 
would  be  our  happiness,  had  God  given  us  Passional 
•Attraction  for  the  exercise  of  that  labor  to  which  he 
had  destined  us!  Our  lives  would  be  a  succession  of 


PASSIONAL    ATTRACTION.  463 

delights,  from  which  immense  riches  would  flow; 
whereas  in  the  absence  of  a  system  of  Attractive  in- 
dustry, we  are  but  a  society  of  Slaves,  among  whom 
a  few  manage  to  avoid  the  burden  of  labor,  and  unite 
to  maintain  themselves  in  idle  ease.  They  are  hated 
by  the  mass,  who  strive  in  turn  to  free  themselves 
from  the  necessity  of  undergoing  the  monotonous 
drudgery  of  our  societies.  Here  is  one  great  source 
of  political  commotions:  political  adventurers  arise, 
who  promise  the  people  happiness,  riches  and  inde- 
pendence, and  who  having  attained  their  ambitious 
ends,  oppress  and  enslave  the  multitude  more  than 
before,  in  order  to  live  in  idle  affluence,  or  what  is 
equivalent,  to  be  directors  of  Industry,  and  the  labor- 
ing mass. 

In  this  miserable  state  of  things,  man  is  reduced  to 
a  lower  condition  than  animals, — reduced  to  complain 
of  Providence,  which  appears  to  have  had  for  them 
a  solicitude,  which  it  has  not  had  for  him;  for  if  we 
are  to  believe  political  and  philosophical  prejudices, 
Providence  has  assigned  us  no  Social  Code,  nor  any 
defined  system  of  Industry,  nor  any  Attraction  for 
those  branches  of  work  to  which  we  are  destined,  nor 
even  in  short  a  guarantee  of  that  repugnant  labor  of 
which  the  mass,  who  demand  it  for  their  daily  sub- 
sistence, are  so  frequently  deprived. 

In  vain  do  politicians  and  philosophers  pretend  that 
their  vague  science,  their  oppressive  laws,  can  replace 
the  want  of  an  Attractive  industrial  code;  in  vain 
do  they  strive  by  their  constitutions  to  ameliorate  the 
condition  of  the  mas?;  I  heir  doctrines  excite  a  repug- 


464  PASSIONAL    ATTRACTION. 

nance  for  industry,  and  engender  the  nine  permanent 
scourges,  which*  characterize  our  present  societies. 

Besides,  if  mankind  are  to  make  laws  for  them- 
selves, if  there  is  no  need  of  the  intervention  of  God 
for  the  regulation  of  OUE  passions  and  social  relations, 
he  would  have  judged  our  reason  superior  to  his  own 
in  legislative  conceptions!  There  are  bwt  two  alterna- 
tives between  which  we  can  choose: 

Either  he  has  not  known  how,  or  he  has  not  wished 
to  give  us  a  social  code  productive  of  justice,  industrial 
Attraction  and  passional  harmony. 

If  he  has  not  known  how,  how  could  he  have  sup- 
posed that  our  weak  reason  would  succeed  in  a  task, 
in  which  he  himself  doubted  of  success  ?  If  he  has 
not  tvished,  how  can  oar  legislators  hope  to  organize 
a  society,  whixih  would  lead  to  the  results  above 
mentioned,  and  of  which;  he  wished  to  deprive  us? 

Will  it  be  pretended  that  God  has  left  to  human 
reason  the  direction  of  the  social  movement,  the  regu- 
lation of  social  and  industrial  relations,  although  capa- 
ble assuredly  of  exercising,  that  function  himself;  and 
that  he  has  incurred  the  risk  of  perpetuating  social 
discord  on  the  earth  by  learing  so  important  a  task  to 
our  political  genius? 

Our  trials  at  political  ameliorations  for  three  thou- 
sand years  past,  prove  that  civilized  genius  is  inade- 
quate to  the  task.  God  must  have  foreseen  that  all 
our  legislators,  from  Solon  down  to  those  of  the  pre- 
sent day,  would,  with  their  political  measures  and 
reforms,  only  increase  the  intensity  of  the  nine  per- 
manent scourges  and  the  load  of  human  misery. 


PASSIONAL    ATTRACTION.  465 

God,  who  has  forseen  this  ignorance,  and  the  de- 
plorable results  of  human  legislation,  would  then  have 
given  us  knowingly  a  task  beyond  our  strength, — a 
task  which  would  have  been  so  light  for  his. 

Let  us  analyze  more  in  detail  the  fallacy  of  the  doc- 
trine, which  attributes  the  power  of  regulating  the 
social  movement  to  weak  human  reason. 

What  could  have  been  the  motives  of  God  in  omit- 
ting the  exercise  of  this  function,  when  it  was  so  easy 
for  him  to  exercise  it  by  giving  us  a  code  based  upon 
Attraction?  What  motive  could  he  have  had  to  refuse 
us  such  a  code!  Six  views  may  be  taken  on  the 
subject  of  this  omission. 

1.  Either  lit  has  not   known  how    to  give  us  a 
Social  code  guaranteeing  truth,  justice  and  industrial 
Attraction:  in  this  case,  why  create  in  us  the  want 
of  it,   without    having    the  means  of   satisfying   that 
want,  he  satisfies  it  in  creatures  inferior  to  us,  to  which 
he  assigns  a  system  or  mode  of  existence,  adapted   to 
their  attractions  and  instincts. 

2.  Or  he  has  not  wished   to    give  us    this  code; 
which  supposes  the  Creator  the  persecutor  of  mankind, 
creating  in  us  wants  which  it  is  impossible  for  us  to 
satisfy,   inasmuch  as   none  of  our  codes  can  extirpate 
the  nine  permanent  scourges. 

3.  Or  he  has  known  how  and  has  not  wished; 
in  this  case  the  Creator  becomes  a  malignant  being, 
knowing  how  to  do  the  good,  but  prefering  the  reign 
of  evil. 

4.  Or  he  has  wished  and  has  not  known  how; 
in  this  case  he  is  incapable  of  governing  us,  knowing 

30 


466  PASSIONAL    ATTRACTION. 

and  wishing  the  good,  which  he  cannot  realize,  and 
which  we  still  less  can  attain. 

5.  Or  he  has  neither  wished  nor  known  how;  in 
this  case  we  must  attribute  to  him  both  want  of  genius 
and  evil  intention. 

6.  Or  he  has  known  how  and  has  wished;  in  this 
case  the  code  exists,  and  he  must  have  provided  a 
mode  for  its  revelation, — for  of  what  use  would  it  be, 
if  it  were  to  remain  hidden,  from  men  for  whom  it  is 
destined? 

Can  it  be  presumed  that  such  language  is  offensive 
to  the  Divinity?  Not  at  all:  he  has  too  wisely  or- 
ganized the  passional  and  material  Universe  to  fear 
that  his  system  or  methods  can  be  criticised,  or  that 
the  causes  and  ends  of  apparent  evil  should  be  investi- 
gated. We  could  not  perform  an  act  more  acceptable 
to  the  Creator,  than  to  quit  our  servile  and  supersti- 
tious system  of  adoration,  to  scrutinize  severely  his 
plans  for  the  distribution  of  Movement,  particularly 
of  the  passional, — provided,  however,  we  do  the  same 
with  the  adversary  of  the  Divinity,  with  false  human 
reason,  which  from  the  beginning  of  Societies,  has  set 
up  its  own  arbitrary  systems  for  the  regulation  of 
the  passional  or  social  movement,  instead  of  studying 
the  passions,  and  searching  for  a  system  adapted  to 
them. 

When  a  theory,  discovered  after  five  and  twenty 
centuries  of  scientific  neglect,  transmits  to  us  the 
revelations  of  the  Divine  social  code,  initiates  us  into 
a  knowledge  of  its  mechanism,  and  the  system  of  re- 
lations which  it  assigns  to  our  Industry,  what  have 


PASSIONAL    ATTRACTION.  467 

we  to  do  but  blush  for  our  false  sciences,  and  make  a 
practical  trial  of  that  code  with  a  small  Association. 

We  would  never  for  a  moment  have  doubted  the 
existence  of  a  code  productive  of  social  harmony  and 
happiness,  had  we  reflected  how  easy  it  was  for  God 
to  accord  us  such  a  favor.  Exclusive  possessor  of  the 
power  of  imparting  •ftttraction,  the  worst  code 
coming  from  him,  but  based  upon  Attraction,  would 
maintain  itself  and  extend  to  all  mankind  by  the 
charm  connected  with  it;  whereas  the  best  social  code 
composed  by  man,  requiring  violence  and  constraint 
to  support  it,  becomes,  from  the  absence  of  an  attrac- 
tion for  the  execution  of  its  laws,  a  source  of  discord 
and  misery:  all  the  political  constitutions  of  me* 
would,  for  this  reason,  fall  to  the  ground  in  a  moment, 
if  they  were  not  maintained  by  force  and  coercive 
measures. 

Thus,  our  happiness  can  only  result  from  divine 
laws,  even  if  God  be  less  skilful  in  legislation  than 
our  civilized  law-givers.  His  code,  were  it  the  equal 
only  of  theirs  in  wisdom,  would  always  possess  an  in- 
estimable superiority,  inasmuch  as  it  would  employ  as 
its  agent,  Attraction,  which  is  the  only  guarantee  of 
happiness  for  those  who  obey.  A  man  is  happier  in 
obeying  a  woman  he  loves,  than  in  commanding  a 
slave;  happiness,  consequently,  does  not  arise  from 
liberty  alone,  but  from  the  adaptation  of  a  function  to 
the  tastes  of  him,  who  exercises  it 

Thus  God  would  be  certain  of  securing  us  our  hap- 
piness by  an  Attractive  Code,  were  it  inferior  even 

in  wisdom  to  those  of  men;  and  on  the  other  hand, 

30" 


468  PASSIONAL    ATTRACTION. 

he  would  be  certain  of  seeing  us  miserable  under  all 
codes  emanating  from  human  wisdom,  for  the  reason 
that  they  would  not  be  Attractive,  and  because  the 
human  legislator  does  not  possess  the  faculty  of  im- 
parting Attraction  for  his  bailiffs,  tax-gatherers,  mili- 
tary-conscriptions, courts  of  justice,  and  other  perfec- 
tions of  civilized  Institutions. 

The  human  legislator,  sword  in  hand,  may  make 
us  avow  that  we  like  his  laws,  but  he  cannot  inspire 
us  with  a  love  for  them,  unless  lie  give  us  a  part  in 
sinecures,  pensions  and  other  guarantees  of  idle  ease, 
which  are  only  fora  favored  few;  whereas  Attraction, 
once  communicated  by  God  to  the  execution  of  a 
code,  would  render  it  pleasing  to  all  mankind. 

If  the  human  race  were  in  the  commencement  of 
their  social  career, — in  the  first  ages  of  civilization, 
,  they  would,  perhaps,  be  excusable  for  founding  some 
hope  of  Social  good  upon  human  science,  upon  the 
legislation  of  man:  but  long  experience  has  proved 
the  impotency  of  human  Legislation,  and  shown 
clearly  that  the  world  has  nothing  to  hope  from  hu- 
man laws  and  civilized  constitutions. 

What  are  the  results  of  the  most  celebrated  of  con- 
stitutions, that  of  England,  whose  capital  contains  two 
hundred  and  thirty  thousand  beggars,  thieves,  pick- 
pockets, and  vagrants?  With  an  immense  annual 
poor  tax,  the  country  is  overrun  with  workingmen, 
who  are  half  starving,  out  of  employment,  and  emi- 
grating by  thousands. 

If  this  be  the  condition  of  the  country,  which  levies 
a  commercial  tribute  on  every  region  of  the  globe, 


PASSIONAL    ATTRACTION.  469 

what  must  be  the  condition  of  those  regions,  which 
are  exhausted  to  enrich  England,  where  so  much 
misery  reigns?  With  what  a  distrust  should  the  as- 
pect of  those  results  inspire  us  for  our  political  sciences 
and  institutions?  How  strongly  should  they  excite 
us  to  search  for  the  Divine  code,  to  search  for  an  out- 
let from  the  disasters  of  civilization. 

And  when  we  reflect  that  human  reason,  which 
might  have  failed  in  this  study,  as  it  has  in  so  many 
others,  has  commenced  no  investigation, — proposed 
no  examination  of  this  important  problem,  there  can 
be  no  hesitation  in  exculpating  God  from  all  suspicion 
of  neglect  towards  us,  and  in  condemning  human 
reason,  which,  for  five  and  twenty  centuries  past,  has 
most  shamefully  neglected  its  task  of  research  and  in- 
vestigation. The  human  race  are  deprived  by  this 
neglect  of  the  Divine  code,  and  are  left  to  suffer  under 
the  direction  of  civilized  legislators,  who  only  know 
how  to  produce  and  maintain  the  nine  permanent 
scourges. 

Let  us  double  and  treble  our  proofs  to  establish  the 
great  truth,  before  which  human  legislation  stands  con- 
demned: tO  Wit:  THAT  THERE  MUST  EXIST  A  UNITARY 

PASSIONAL  CODK,  COMPOSED  BY  GOD  AND  INTER- 
PRETED BY  ATTRACTION.  Our  sciences  having  made 
no  study  of  Passional  Attraction,  are  culpable  of  a 
most  shameful  neglect,  particularly,  since  Newton's 
discoveries  in  material  Attraction,  which  should  have 
induced  a  continuation  of  that  study,  and  led  to  its 
extension  from  the  Material  to  the  Passional  world. 


470  PASSIONAL    ATTRACTION. 

The  age,  plunged  in  political  and  legislative  illu- 
sions, deserves  the  strongest  reproach  for  its  oppo- 
sition to  Nature,  and  the  guide,  which  the  Creator  has 
placed  within  us.  Its  prejudices  against  Attraction, 
are  like  those  old  walls  of  Roman  cement,  upon  which 
the  iron  bar  of  the  workman  makes  no  impression; 
such  is  the  strength  of  our  prepossessions  against  the 
guide  which  God  has  given  us, — Attraction.  We 
must,  consequently,  first  clear  away  the  whole  mass 
of  present  political  and  scientific  prejudices,  before 
laying  the  foundation  of  the  new  doctrine. 

The  more  we  examine  the  perfect  accordance  of 
Attraction  with  the  Attributes  of  the  Divinity  and  the 
desires  of  man,  the  more  firmly  we  shall  be  con- 
vinced that  our  scientific  bodies  in  neglecting  all  study 
of  Attraction,  have  rendered  themselves  culpable  of  a 
most  gross  oversight. 

To  what  numberless  researches,  which  for  the  most 
part  are  useless,  does  not  curiosity  or  the  desire  of 
gain  lead?  What  laborious  researches  upon  insolv- 
able  problems,  like  those  of  Alchemy!  What  incon- 
siderate searches  in  countries,  which  appear  to  con- 
tain mines!  What  voyages  to  discover  some  miser- 
able desert  Island,  or  some  inscription  of  no  value! 
What  fruitless  efforts  to  explore  the  interior  of  Africa! 
What  outlays  to  discover  a  northern  passage,  which 
with  the  present  state  of  the  earth's  temperature, 
would  be  impracticable  and  useless! 

Nevertheless,  however  great  the  difficulties1  to  be 
overcome,  nothing  can  discourage  scientific  curiosity 
on  points,  which  if  attained,  offer  unimportant  results: 


PASSIONAL    ATTRACTION.  471 

whereas  the  most  magnificent  of  achievements, — the 
discovery  of  the  theory  of  Attraction  and  the  Law  of 
Destinies  has,  during  thirty  centuries  of  scientific  in- 
vestigation, called  forth  no  efforts,  nor  excited  the 
scientific  curiosity  of  any  one. 

Numerous  indications  exist,  which  should  have  led 
genius  to  a  study  of  Passional  Attraction.  We  will 
examine  four  of  those  indications, — which  are  to  be 
found  in  four  of  the  guarantees  that  Attraction  offers 
to  God  and  man. 

1.  Permanent  Social  guide  and  revelation,  in- 
asmuch as  Attraction  impels  us  continually  by  im- 
pulses, which  are  as  fixed  and  unvarying  at  all  times 
and  in  all  places,  as  the  lights  of  reason  are  fluctuat- 
ing and  deceptive. 

The  experience  of  all  centuries  proves  that  Attrac- 
t  ion  is  immutable,  that  it  will,  in  twenty  thousand 
years,  be  as  unvarying  as  it  has  been  since  the  crea- 
tion of  the  world,  that  it  will  always  tend  to  riches 
and  not  to  poverty,  to  groups  and  not  to  incoherence. 
From  this  immutability  of  Attraction,  it  becomes  evi- 
dent that  any  science  i  elative  to  its  action  and  effects, 
would  be  a  positive  science,  and  that  any  social  system 
based  upon  it,  would  be  a  Code  dictated  by  God  and 
interpreted  by  a  permanent  revelation,  for  Attraction 
is  never  silent  or  uncertain.  How  important  is  the 
research  of  this  code,  which  once  discovered,  would 
become  a  true  and  unvarying  guide  in  social  politics, 
and  replace  our  irreconcilable  theories  and  systems. 

If  Attraction  were  not  intended  as  a  guide  for  us,  to 
what  use  and  purpose  could  the  Creator  have  destined 


472  PASSIONAL    ATTRACTION. 

it?  Up  to  the  present  time,  it  has  served  only  to  lead 
us  astray,  to  plunge  us  into  discord  and  social  ex- 
cesses; it  seems  in  our  false  societies  an  enemy,  which 
God  has  placed  in  our  path;  a  traitor  which,  under  a 
deceitful  and  pleasing  exterior,  gains  our  confidence 
to  lure  us  to  perdition.  Is  it  God  who  wishes  to  be- 
tray and  mislead  us,  for  it  is  he,  who  thus  besets  by 
Attraction? 

Sophists  think  they  explain  the  problem  by  saying 
that  God  has  given  us  reason  to  resist.  It  is  pre- 
cisely what  he  has  not  done:  that  reason,  which  they 
wish  to  oppose  to  Attraction,  is  impotent  with  those 
even,  who  possess  the  largest  share  of  it;  it  is  in  all 
cases  powerless  when  the  passions  are  to  be  repressed: 
Children  are  restrained  only  by  fear;  young  men  by 
the  want  of  money;  the  mass,  by  poverty  and  want;  old 
age  by  cautious  calculations,  which  check  the  head- 
long passions  of  youth;  but  no  one  is  restrained  by 
that  reason,  which  unaccompanied  by  any  other  con- 
siderations, strives  directly  to  subdue  the  passions. 

Reason,  it  is  clear,  is  without  weight  or  influence; 
and  the  more  we  observe  man,  the  more  we  see  that 
he  is  entirely  guided  by  Attraction;  that  he  hears  to 
reason  so  far  only,  as  it  aids  him  in  the  attainment  of 
his  pleasures  and  in  the  means  of  satisfying  Attraction. 
Hence  it  is  evident  that  God  in  subjecting  us  to  this 
guide,  to  this  interpreter,  must  have  assigned  it  some 
employment  adapted  to  the  ends  of  Unity  and  Justice, 
which  are  two  attributes  of  the  Creator.  To  apply  it 
to  a  useful  purpose,  he  must  have  given  us  a  code, 
which  would  permit  its  free  development.  This 


PASSIONAL    ATTRACTION.  473 

opinion  is  the  only  one,  which  is  compatible  with  the 
five  following  attributes  of  God:  Direction,  of  Move- 
ment, Economy  of  Means,  Equilibrated  Justice, 
Universality  of  Providence,  UNITY  OF  SYSTEM. 

When  so  many  indications  exist,  which  should  have 
induced  a  study  of  Attraction  and  of  the  system  to 
which  it  tends,  how  shall  we  characterize  the  neglect; 
of  enlightened  ages  for  having  so  long  deferred  this 
study, — and  how  characterize  the  perversity  of  those 
who  might  endeaver  to  prevent  a  trial  of  Association, 
now  that  its  laws  are  discovered,  by  a  study  and 
analysis  of  this  long  neglected  subject. 

2.  Economy  of  Means, — by  employing  a  means 
which  possesses  the  two-fold  property  of  interpre- 
tation and  impulse;  a  means  which,  while  it  stim- 
ulates us  to  action,  manifests  to  us  the  will  of  the  Di- 
vinity. 

What  idea  does  the  world  form  of  the  economy  of 
God,  upon  which  it  reasons  so  falsely?  When  a 
means  exists  for  performing  a  double  duty  with  a 
single  agent,  can  we  suppose  that  God  would  overlook 
this  economy  and  prefer  the  coercive  system,  which 
would  occasion  a  double  loss.  He  would  do  so,  had 
he  chosen  as  his  interpreter,  reason  without  Attrac- 
tion. In  this  case,  he  would  be  obliged  to  recur  to 
civilized  methods;  that  is — to  constraint,  with  its 
Unproductive  interpreters. 
And  refractory  subjects. 

In  politics  and  legislation,  we  have  at  present,  a 
great  many  pretended  interpreters  of  wisdom  and  rea- 
son, but  they  have  to  support  their  wisdom  by  jails, 


474  PASSIONAL   ATTRACTION. 

scaffolds,  and  by  an  unproductive  army,  without  which, 
nations  would  not  listen  to  their  lessons  of  wisdom, 
nor  bear  the  load  of  evil,  which  their  systems  heap 
upon  them. 

Our  theories,  which  confer  on  God  the  title  of  Su- 
preme economist,  show  themselves  devoid  of  meaning, 
and  derison  when  they  suppose  that  he  could  have 
speculated  upon  a  system  of  constraint,  from  which 
results  so  enormous  a  loss.  It  is  perfectly  easy  for 
him  to  adopt  a  system  of  Attraction,  from  which  all 
economy,  all  riches  would  flow:  he  employs,  visibly, 
this  system,  in  the  direction  of  planets  and  various  in- 
dustrial animals:  can  we  suppose  that  he  would  wish 
to  exclude  us  from  it? 

3.  Avoidance  of  constraint  and  coercive  mea- 
sures,— of  bailiffs,  courts  of  justice,  prisons,  scaf- 
folds, repressive  legislation,  and  other  parasitic 
agents,  to  which  the  civilized  and  barbarian  societies 
must  resort  in  order  to  maintain  their  false  and  repug- 
nant system  of  Industry. 

All  these  measures  of  constraint  would  become  use- 
less from  the  moment  a  system  of  Attractive  Industry 
could  be  organized.  Can  we  doubt  that  we  are  des- 
tined to  it?  As  presumptive  evidence  of  the  fact,  we 
have  only  to  observe,  that  God  has  created  on  the 
earth  no  means  of  constraint  superior  to  the  resistance, 
which  man  can  oppose.  We  see  upon  our  globe 
neither  giants,  centaurs,  tritons,  nor  any  agents  capa- 
ble of  overpowering  human  armies,  although  it  would 
have  been  so  easy  for  God  to  create  on  the  land  and 
in  the  sea,  beings  of  a  collosal  stature,  capable  of 
checking  man  in  case  of  rebellion  to  his  views.  The 


PASSIONAL    ATTRACTION.  475 

absence  of  any  creations  of  the  kind,  proves  that  con- 
straint does  not  enter  into  the  plans  of  the  Creator, 
and  that  a  code  coming  from  him  will  be  fully  exempt 
from  it. 

If  God  did  not  possess  the  power  of  distributing 
Attraction  as  he  wished,  he  would  be  obliged  to  resort 
to  constraint, — to  create  in  the  firmament,  colossal 
planets  to  control  the  smaller  ones,  and  compel  them 
to  move  with  regularity  in  their  orbits.  He  would 
have  to  pursue  the  same  system  on  the  earth,  and  cre- 
ate beings  of  a  gigantic  species,  like  the  fabled  mon- 
sters of  antiquity, — sphinxes,  giants,  centaurs,  etc.,  in 
order  to  force  men  to  exercise  Industry,  and  to  obey 
such  a  system  as  he  wished.  Carrying  out  the  appli- 
cation of  the  principle,  he  would  also  be  obliged  to 
create  huge  bees  to  force  the  smaller  to  gather  honey; 
and  large  beavers  to  force  the  lesser  ones  to  construct 
their  dams. 

Still  these  colossal  species  might  disobey  God,  if  in 
the  execution  of  the  duty  assigned  them,  they  were 
not  impelled  by  Attraction.  God,  consequently,  would 
be  obliged  to  employ  Attraction  with  some,  and 
constraint  with  others,  and  use  krtbwingly  Du- 
plicity in  governing  the  Universe,  when  he  need  only 
employ  Unity  by  subjecting  all  creation  to  Attrac- 
tion, which  in  calling  forth  an  affectionate  and  willing 
submission,  would  form  a  chain  of  flowers  for  all  his 
creatures. 

How  can  we  suppose  that  a  Being  to  whom  we  at- 
tribute supreme  goodness  and  economy,  could  take 
pleasure  in  thus  complicating  the  social  mechanism  by 


476  PASSIONAL    ATTRACTION. 

employing  constraint,  which  requires  twice  the  num- 
ber of  agonts,  and  causes  the  misfortune  of  the  great 
majority?  How  could  that  Being  to  whom  we  at- 
tribute Unity  of  System,  deprive  himself  intentionally 
of  the  wonderful  lever, — Attraction, — which,  employ- 
ed with  complete  success  as  agent  of  sideral  harmonies, 
must,  if  there  be  unity  of  system,  be  applied  to  the 
social  harmonies  of  mankind? 

From  these  indications,  we  may  draw  the  con- 
clusion that  God,  in  assigning  us  social  laws,  could 
only  have  speculated  upon  the  employment  of  Attrac- 
tion, inasmuch  as  he  has  provided  himself  with  no 
means  of  constraint.  How  can  we  after  that,  explain 
the  inconsistency  of  men,  who  wish,  as  they  say,  to 
walk  in  the  way  of  God,  and  who,  refusing  to  consult 
Attraction,  his  agent  and  interpreter  in  social  matters, 
trust  to  our  vague  and  arbitrary  doctrines,  although, 
the  continuance  of  the  nine  permanent  scourges, 
should  have  proved  to  them  that  those  doctrines  are 
opposed  to  the  wish  of  God,  and  that  under  their 
guidance,  man  has  failed  completely  in  the  dis- 
covery of  the  Divine  social  code  and  the  theory  of 
Destinies. 

4.  Direct  and  positive  recompense  of  worlds  go- 
verned by  Attraction;  (that  is — which  have  organ- 
ized social  harmony;)  and  in  direct  and  passive  pun- 
ishment of  rebel  worlds,  (of  those  remaining  in  social 
subversion,)  without  resort  to  violence,  but  by  the 
suffering  of  attractions,  which  are  not  satisfied.  This 
is  the  punishment  of  rebel  worlds,  guided  by  the  false 
science  and  legislation  of  man. 


PASSIONAL    ATTRACTION.  477 

It  would  be  incompatible  with  the  dignity  of  the 
Supreme  Being,  to  inflict  direct  vengence  upon  rebel 
worlds  or  individuals;  fret  will  would  then  no  longer 
exist.  How  could  men  be  free  to  choose  between  the 
Divine  System, — or  Industrial  Association,  and  hu- 
man systems, — or  Industrial  incoherence,  if  God  in- 
flicted direct  punishment  upon  worlds,  which  dis- 
obey his  will?  There  is  no  liberty  of  opinion  where 
there  is  a  certainty  of  punishment,  if  one  of  the  alter- 
natives be  chosen;  God,  to  leave  us  free  will,  must 
desist  from  his  power  of  punishing  directly,  and  in- 
flict only  a  passive  punishment,  that  of  desires  and  at- 
tractions unsatisfied.  This  punishment  is  equitable, 
inasmuch  as  it  is  in  all  cases  regulated  by  the  resist- 
ance of  the  rebel,  and  requires  no  special  chastise- 
ment, no  act  of  Divine  anger. 

The  tenacity  of  Attraction,  its  constant  demand  for 
satisfaction,  is  a  slight  evil  in  the  beginning.  We 
may  try  to  repress  it  for  a  while,  to  despise  the  goods 
of  the  world  and  console  ourselves,  when  in  want, 
with  a  perusal  of  Plato  or  Seneca  We  might,  per- 
haps, even  succeed  in  becoming  indifferent  to  priva- 
tions, if  these  goods,  so  necessary  to  our  comforts, 
were  not  constantly  displayed  before  us.  The  poor 
and  the  needy  arc  everywhere  exposed  to  this  tantili- 
zation.  In  small  villages  even,  there  are  always  a 
few  rich,  whose  happier  condition  awakens  desires 
and  wants  in  the  multitude,  which  reduce  them  to  the 
condition  of  Tantalus.  Thus  Attraction,  long  re- 
pressed becomes  a  punishment,  but  it  is  not  direct 
punishment  on  the  part  of  God,  for  men  are  free  to 


478  PASSIONAL    ATTRACTION. 

change  at  any  time  their  course,  to  quit  the  banner  of 
human  science  and  legislation,  of  poverty  and  repug- 
nant Industry,  for  that  of  Attractive  Industry  and 
riches,  which  Association  will  fully  guarantee  to  them. 
When  nations  begin  to  feel  their  misery,  and  know 
how  to  descant  upon  the  disorders  of  the  Social 
world,  they  then  possess  a  fully  developed  system  of 
Industry,  which  is  the  means  or  instrument  necessary 
to  the  organization  of  Association;  nothing  then  pre- 
vents them  from  attaining  social  happiness,  provided 
they  see  the  necessity  of  a  code  pre-composed  by  God 
for  the  regulation  of  their  passions  and  societies,  and 
endeavor  to  discover  its  laws  and  mechanism.  It  is 
not  God,  consequently,  who  prevents  the  human  race 
from  attaining  their  happiness;  they  do  it  themselves 
by  condemning  the  passions  and  neglecting  all  search 
for  a  social  code  adapted  to  those  impulses  of  the 
soul. 

Let  us  observe  that  the  suffering  which  arises  from 
unsatisfied  Attraction,  weighs  down  upon  the  rich  as 
well  as  upon  the  poor,  and  that  among  the  rich  classes, 
whose  happiness  is  envied,  we  find  a  vast  number, 
who  are  devoured  by  ennui  and  desires.  Let  us  lis- 
ten on  this  subject  to  a  celebrated  woman, — Madame 
de  Maintenon: 

"  Could  I  but  explain  to  you  the  ennui,  which  de- 
vours the  great,  the  difficulty  which  they  find  in  fill- 
ing up  their  time!  The  irksomness  of  that  multitude 
of  valets,  whom  they,  however,  cannot  do  without; 
the  restlessness  which  leads  them  to  change  place, 
without  finding  any  one  that  pleases!  The  ennui 


PASSIONAL    ATTRACTION'.  479 

that  follows  them  even  upon  the  throne!  Do  you  not 
see  that  I  am  dying  with  melancholy,  while  favored 
by  fortune  to  an  extent  that  can  hardly  be  imagined, 
and  that  it  is  only  the  succor  of  God,  which  prevents 
me  from  sinking  under  it!  (A  feeble  succor  if  it  leads 
her  to  die  of  melancholy.)  I  have  been  young  and 
handsome;  I  have  enjoyed  pleasures;  I  have  been 
loved  by  all  at  a  later  age;  I  have  passed  years  in  the 
intercourse  of  letters;  I  have  attained  the  height  of 
fortune,  and  I  protest  to  you,  that  all  conditions  leave 
a  frightful  void,  an  anxiety,  or  lassitude,  a  desire  to 
know  something  else,  because  in  them  all,  there  is 
nothing,  which  satisfies  fully." 

If  at  the  height  of  grandeur,  we  find  persons  de- 
voured by  ennui,  what  must  it  be  in  cases  were  am- 
bition is  thwarted?  We  often  see  persons  die  of  des- 
pair from  the  failure  of  some  favorite  scheme.  Four- 
croy,  the  learned  chemist,  died  of  regret,  it  is  said,  at 
seeing  the  place  of  President  of  the  University  given 
to  Fontanes.  Sir  Samuel  Romilly,  having  failed  in 
obtaining  the  office  of  Chancellor,  which  was  given  to 
Mr.  Abbot,  committed  suicide  in  a  fit  of  despair.  If 
we  take  at  hazzard,  twenty  men,  who  have  families  to 
support,  we  shall  find  that  the  want  of  means  is  for 
nineteen  of  them  a  constant  perplexity  and  torment. 
The  same  is  the  case  with  women,  who  have  passed 
the  age  of  youth,  and  who  have  no  passion  capable  of 
absorbing  their  attention.  We  see  this  misery  of 
unsatisfied  Attraction  extend  even  to  the  most  obscure 
classes;  here  a  peasant  chokes  with  spite  for  having 
missed  a  farm,  which  a  neighbor  has  obtained;  there 


480  PASSIONAL    ATTRACTION. 

a  young  girl  sinks  into  a  decline,  and  dies  from  a  mar- 
riage broken  off.  We  see  all  ranks  and  classes  ex- 
posed to  these  privations,  which  cause  despair;  in 
Asssociation  they  would  not  exist,  as  this  order  would 
afford  to  each  passion  numerous  developments,  form- 
ing diversions  to  each  other,  and  producing  a  variety 
and  succession  of  pleasures  so  well  connected,  that 
reverses  would  at  the  most,  cause  but  a  few  moments  of 
sorrow. 

Such  would  be  the  result  of  Passional  Equili- 
brium, which  is  only  possible  in  an  order  of  things, 
in  which  the  twelve  pussions  are  developed  by  con- 
trasted, connected  and  rival  Series.  Out  of  this  me- 
chanism our  souls,  as  truly  remarks  the  author,  quoted, 
find  even  at  the  summit  of  greatness,  but  a  frightful 
void,  an  anxiety,  a  lassitude,  a  desire  to  knoiv  some- 
thing else. 

The  great  error  of  most  readers,  is  that  they  make 
no  summary  of  what  they  read:  we  will  consequently 
sum  up  and  repeat  in  two  short  paragraphs,  the  sub- 
stance of  what  has  here  been  said  at  length. 

The  Duty  of  God  is  to  compose  a  Social  Code,  and 
to  reveal  it  to  man.  It  is  evident  from  the  preceding 
observations,  that  he  has  fulfilecl  this  double  duty. 

The  duty  of  man  is  to  search  for  the  Divine  code  in 
the  study  of  Attraction.  It  is  manifest  that  human 
reason  lias  not  fulfiled  its  task.  This  neglect  being 
now  repaired,  and  the  Passional  code  discovered,  it 
only  remains  to  make  an  examination  and  a  practical 
trial  of  it. 


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